Witch Hunter Ruby
by HolyOrdersOtaku
Summary: Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the coven sank in the dark. Witch; devil's servant. The defenders of man rise to protect the world from these grim devils with the very powers that they resent. "Realistic" modern world. Semblances replaced by witch powers for some, and others are normal humans. Rated T for mild language. Loosely based upon Witch Hunter Robin.
1. Episode 1: Shell

Episode 1: Shell

_Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the Coven sank in the dark. A Rose: flower of blood. Red flames lick at the feet of the Damned, condemning them forevermore. _

* * *

The city of Vale: a thriving modern metropolis. Night had fallen and most of the citizens were already home from work. Only the young and restless, or the incredibly shady stayed on the streets at this hour. A full moon lit up the sky as a bald headed man stopped at a vending machine to buy a drink. Ten meters away from him, hiding in the shadows, was Blake Belladonna. Garbed in her work uniform, she wore all black: black fitted trousers, a black dress shirt, black boots, and a long black trench coat. Around her neck was what appeared to be a glass crucifix with a thick green liquid contained within. In her ear rested the earpiece of a radio; fingering the on switch she whispered, "Mercury, I have a visual. He's proceeding on the predicted route as we expected."

_"Roger,"_ Mercury, the young, teen computer expert, said in return. _"Don't lose sight of him. According to Factory records, he's a very powerful witch; we may not get a second chance."_ There was a moment of silence before he continued. _"Jaune? Jaune, where are you? I'm not picking you up on the radio."_

A rough cracking came over the radio for a split second. "_Sorry,"_ said Jaune, the rookie of the team. _"I was on the wrong channel. I'm in position."_

"Stick to the plan," Blake whispered. "Target is moving again." Slowly, she began to stalk the bald man. Everything was going exactly as planned. This was just another witch hunt. Then again, there was no such thing as _just_ a witch hunt. Witches, by nature, were unpredictable when they were cornered. The plan was to take him down before he had a chance to use his power; catch him by surprise. But Blake had a slight power of her own. Many didn't really see it as a power; more like a strong gut feeling. Those who said as much, of course, were unaware of the fact that she actually _had_ this power: the power to sense a shift of sorts. Usually she could sense emotion from touch, but on really rough days, her power would warn her of danger.

Tonight, her power was triggering on its own; something was wrong. She took a quick glance of her surroundings as she stalked the man; this was not the planned route that he usually took. "Mercury, he's taken a turn. He's changed directions just past the pharmacy; I have a bad feeling about this."

_"What? Factory intel clearly states that he has a set routine that he's never once deviated from. Why would he choose tonight to change it up?"_ A moment of silence passed before Mercury cursed under his breath. _"Quick! Do what you can to bring him down! He must have spotted one of you!"_

Before Blake could respond, the bald man turned and faced her from ten meters away. She could barely make out a smile before he shifted his gaze to across the street. Turning around, he ducked into an alley and began to sprint. Jaune appeared from the alley directly across the street and gave chase of the target. "Jaune, don't! We don't have surveillance in there! It's too narrow!"

Ignoring Blake's warnings, he drew his pistol from inside of his black trench coat and turned the safety off. Confronting the witch in the alley, he opened fire. The witch paused in his run and shot a terrifying glare at Jaune; concentration filled out the features on his face. The bullets ricocheted off of the air around the witch, fragmenting into a green, sticky mass all over the concrete walls of the surrounding buildings. Using his power, the witch levitated a dumpster and threw it at the blonde rookie. Just as Blake warned, the Alley was too narrow to side step the dumpster. Thinking quick, he ran at the dumpster and slid under it.

Recovering and standing on his feet as quickly as possible, Jaune continued to chase the witch out of the alley and into a nearby street. To his shock, however, the witch was gone. The street was dead quiet and completely empty. "Damn it!" he yelled. "I lost him! I lost the witch!"

Turning to search another alley, Jaune never noticed the witch watching him from the roof of the building he stood next to. Though he looked intimidating enough in front of Jaune, he slowly backed away from the edge and leaned against a door before sliding to the ground where he sat quietly. Panic consumed him. "That man...he shot at me. A cop?"

"Not quite," sad a man's voice. Looking up, the witch saw a black clad man with long black hair jump from above the doorway and land in front of him, his black coat flowing gently from the wind. His gaze was calm and calculating, and his hands rested casually in his coat pockets. His black hair was only tainted by a few short strands of another, lighter color; he couldn't tell what it was in the darkness, but it looked to be a light red, or possibly pink.

The coat, however, was the same as the blonde man's; whoever they were, they were clearly working together, and that's all the witch knew at that moment. "Bastard!" he screamed as he concentrated his powers to rip the man limb from limb.

The man's coat started to billow violently in response, but he was otherwise unharmed. A green filled glass crucifix began to glow from around the man's neck. "Your powers are useless against me," he said.

The witch understood. He had heard about men like him before, but didn't think that they actually existed. Then again, he himself was a witch; a walking myth. So this man's existence shouldn't have been a surprise. "Are you...are you what they call a Hunter?"

The black haired man drew a pistol and aimed it at the witch's chest. "Probably." Without a second word, he opened fire, pouring four bullets into the witch.

* * *

The next morning, the early spring weather left the sky void of very many clouds, allowing the sun to shine and the flowers to begin blossoming. Peter Port, the grounds keeper for the Beacon Investigative Witch Hunt Organization, or BI-WHO for short, sat in his little cubicle sized front desk area at the gate to the property. He always thought that the long name for the company that employed him was silly, and while very few people knew what the name really was, or even what the organization did, most who lived in the area simply referred to it as Beacon. Often a topic of mystery, many were convinced that it was simply another government funded office that dealt with investigations; how blissful it must be to not know that witches were real.

Of course, Peter was no Hunter. Not anymore, at least. Once when he was a youth he worked for Beacon as a Hunter, but now that he was old enough to retire he decided to stay on as the groundskeeper. If only he'd known how boring that was. Sure, he was in charge of the janitor staff and the yard workers who kept the grass cut, but his primary job was to sit in the small front desk space at the front gate. Not even technically inside of the building. As one might expect, a witch hunting organization that keeps the truth about witches a secret from the public doesn't get too many visitors. So, he killed time by reading cheap magazines that one of the female janitors brings for him to read. Of all the things to take interest in, he was caught up reading his own horoscope. "Let's see," he said quietly. "Ah, Leo: Prepare for a chance encounter. Your lucky color is black," he read aloud. "Hmm."

Shrugging, he kept reading for another fifteen minutes before he heard a taxi cab come to a halt in front of the building. Glancing up, he saw a beautiful young girl emerge and pay the driver before she turned to face the building. She wore a black dress with a black and red corset, with a long brown coat overtop. Her hair was a dark brown, almost black, and her eyes were a piercing silver. Reaching into her coat pocket, she retrieved a scrap of paper; Port assumed that it must have been a hand written address. Nodding and feeling certain that she was at the right place, the girl carefully and shyly made her way to the door where Port was ready to greet her.

* * *

"How many times do I have to tell you!" Chief Torchwick yelled at Jaune. "Why must Headquarters insist on sending us fresh hotshots when we need extra man power? You fired three Aura bullets at the witch, and you _missed_. Do you know how difficult it was for the Factory to recover them? Or how expensive these bullets are to produce?"

Jaune simply looked at the floor, not willing to look the Chief in the eye. "I...I'm sorry," he said.

"You're sorry? Do you realize how much you harm us financially when you go charging after a witch and disregard orders? If this keeps up, we're going to get another complaint from the Factory! They may even stop sending us Aura bullets!" From the far side of the room, Chief Torchwick saw the door open; Lie Ren in his black coat and uniform, and Mr. Ironwood, the one most simply called Boss, entered the room. "Ah," Torchwick said, putting on a fake smile. "Don't worry, Mr. Ironwood. I'll have Jaune send a formal apology to both the Factory and to Headquarters. Rest assured that he will be punished accordingly."

Iron looked at Jaune with a friendly smile before turning to the Chief, saying, "That will not be necessary, Roman." He patted the Chief on the shoulder briefly before entering the conference room. "Mercury," he said, more sternly. "Come."

Mercury, who was sitting at his computer desk eating a bag of potato chips, stood up with one of his laptops and followed Ironwood into the meeting.

Ren caught Jaune's and Blake's eye. Nodding, the three began to enter the conference room. "I see Yang is late, _again_."

Jaune sighed. "I don't get it. Why is _she _allowed to be late everyday and not get in trouble, but I can't accidentally waste a bullet without getting yelled at."

"Well," Blake said with a teasing tone. "Yang doesn't waste two hundred lien equipment every time she fires an Aura gun."

"Like she's ever fired one before," he muttered in return. "Wait, are those bullets _really_ two hundred lien a pop?" Nodding, Blake took her seat at the conference table. Jaune shuddered as he sat down, realizing just how much money he'd wasted the night before during the hunt.

Everyone was seated except for Ironwood. The Chief and his assistant, Neo, remained in the main area; they were not hunters, and thus had no business in the meeting. "Looks like Yang is late again," Mercury commented."

"It's fine," Ironwood said. "We can proceed without her for now. Let's get started."

Mercury nodded. Plugging his laptop into a port on the table itself, a large holographic projection appeared. A photo of a bald man, a driver's license, birth certificate, and a large twenty page document appeared for everyone to read as they pleased. "Indigo C. Lazuli; age twenty-five. He was our target from last night. Granted he caused a little unexpected trouble, you were able to apprehend him without injury."

"That's Ren, for you," Jaune said with a smile. Ren merely blinked at Jaune; to him, this wasn't a competition but rather a duty. He _needed _to catch witches before they hurt anyone.

Mercury nodded. "Well, Factory intel seems to have overlooked something. I happened to catch it this morning as I was reviewing the case files. Looks like our witch may have had a _partner_."

"A partner?" Ren asked. Outside, he heard the phone ring and Neo answered it, telling whoever called that there was a meeting in progress.

"Yeah." Typing into his laptop, the hologram shifted to show a different man: this one was younger. He had a silver mohawk and looked every bit the street punk. "Sky Lark; age twenty. He's been named the prime suspect in an unusual murder case by the local police department. They sent me an email this morning asking for Beacon assistance with the case."

"Was the body that odd?" Blake asked.

"It looked like it had been ripped apart. Kind of like how back in the day criminals would be drawn and quartered, except that there were no signs that his arms or legs had been tied to any sort of wench or pulley. It's almost like he was ripped apart by _nothing_. Sound familiar?"

Ren nodded as he pulled up Indigo's dossier once more. "This is rare: two witches expressing the same power."

Mercury smiled, clearly fascinated by the rare odds of this happening. "According to the Factory, Sky claims that he got his powers from Indigo. Of course, we know that this is impossible; it's simply a one in a billion chance that they developed the same powers. But there's a problem. I've been trying to track Sky all morning. I think he's caught wind of us now that he's lost contact with Indigo; I haven't been able to pinpoint his location."

Ironwood nodded in thought. "That's not good. He could very well try to leave the country."

"Once he leaves Vale territory, it's up to Headquarters to catch witches. And we all know how _they_ hunt," Ren said.

"Right, Ironwood said loudly. "This is our highest priority for hunts right now. Put forth all of your efforts to apprehend Sky Lark. I'll not lose to Haven Headquarters; this witch belongs to Beacon, and we're going to keep it that way. Dismissed." Everyone began to leave and go to their own private work terminals to begin the investigation. "Ren, I need to speak with you in my office," Ironwood said lastly, and the two made for the elevator to go one story higher; the fourth floor.

* * *

"I'm sorry," Port said as he put the desk phone down. "Ren and the others are currently in a meeting, so I'm afraid I can't let you in yet. You're more than welcome to wait here, though."

The young girl smiled and bowed politely. "Thank you." Setting down a large trunk, presumably her luggage, she sat down on a nearby bench.

A powerful yawn reached her ears, and she and Port turned to see a blonde woman entering the gate and prepare to enter the employee code for the front door. "G'mornin, Port," she said with a drowsy tone.

Port sighed. "Miss Yang! What do you mean _good morning_? Do you have any idea what time it is? The Chief is gonna get mad at you again, you know?"

Ignoring Port, the woman, Yang, looked to her left and saw the young brunette sitting on the bench. "Who's that?"

"Her? She's a visitor here to see Ren. Now hurry, before you get into more trouble!"

"Oh," Yang said with a coy smile on her face. "So Ren goes for _that_ kind of girl, does he?"

The girl simply tilted her head to the side, seemingly confused by this Yang woman. "What are you talking about?" Port said. "Hurry and get to work! Maybe if you're lucky the Chief hasn't noticed that your late."

"Right, I'm going. I'm going." Shuffling into the building, she entered the elevator and made her way to the third floor.

* * *

"A replacement?" Ren asked Ironwood. "Are you certain?"

"Yes," Ironwood replied as he tipped at his brandy that he had poured a few minutes prior. "It would seem that Haven Headquarters has finally acknowledged that we have a significant gap in our team. She's coming from Signal it would seem."

"A replacement," Ren echoed. "Six months after what happened to Nora?"

"So it would seem. And there's something else; she's a craft user."

Ren's eyes went wide with horror. The memory of Nora being consumed and destroyed by her own craft bubbled to the surface. "Why _another_ craft user?"

* * *

"Yang Xiao Long!" Chief Torchwick yelled, startling the blonde. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Uh...time to start the work day?" she asked innocently.

"You? Working? I'd laugh if the concept was any less absurd! Look, I know that you're father is a powerful man at Headquarters, but he insisted that we give you no special treatment. You come and go as you please and you barely do any work at all around here! If you don't start acting right, Xiao Long, you're father will have to find out why his daughter was _fired_!"

Yang looked at the ground sadly for a moment before smiling up at the Chief. "But I'm not fired _yet_, am I?"

At a loss for words, the Chief felt relieved when the phone rang. Grabbing it, he answered, "Chief Torchwick speaking. Huh? A young girl?"

"Oh," Yang said. "That's right; it's Ren's new girlfriend!"

Setting the phone aside for a moment, Torchwick stared at Yang in confusion before anger returned to his face. "Ren isn't here! He's already left! I know he's still here, damn it, just tell her that he's gone and get rid of her!" He slammed the phone back on the receiver and returned his gaze to Yang, prepared for round two of his lecture.

* * *

"I'm terribly sorry," Port said. "It seems they've already left for an investigation. I don't know how long it will be before they come back."

"I see," the girl said.

"You're more than welcome to leave your luggage here if you want to take a look around town. I get the impression that you're not from here."

She shook her head. "Not really, no. I did see a small cafe on the way here. Perhaps I'll go there."

"Ah, the Malachite Cafe? It's a local favorite. Great food, great coffee, and great deserts as well. Tell Militia that I sent you and she'll give you a deal. Name's Port."

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind." Bowing politely, she left her luggage and made her way to the cafe. It was just a few buildings away, so it was a relatively short walk. At this point, it was just a little bit before noon when she arrived. However, she was surprised to find that the dining area was strikingly empty of any customers.

Shrugging, she took a seat where the waitress promptly arrived. "Hello," the young waitress said. Handing her a menu, she smiled happily. "What can I get for you today?"

The brunette nodded and briefly looked over the menu. "I'll have your soup special," she said. "And a cup of coffee." Bowing politely, the waitress in red left for the kitchen. While the young girl waited, she glanced around and took in the cafe's presence. Everything was pristine and clean, each table had a white tablecloth, and the architecture was very modern with a wide selection of artistic framed paintings and beautiful light fixtures. The center of each table held a plain white unlit candle. After a few moments, the waitress came back with the soup and the coffee and presented it to the young woman.

"Here you go," she said.

The brunette paced herself eating the thick, delicious soup. Once it was gone, she raised the hot coffee and started at add a creamer and several sugar cubes. The waitress, standing at the nearby bar, was watching the whole while. "Isn't that a bit sweet?" she asked.

"Not really," the young brunette said. "I've gotten used to drinking it like this. I used to work long nights, so I became accustomed to drinking it." Sipping silently at her coffee, she once again noticed how the red waitress was alone. "Does no one else work here?"

"No, it's just me. It's my cafe, after all."

"I'm surprised to find it empty. Your soup was delightful."

"Yes, well we don't get very much business compared to other places. But, we have a small, dedicated following here in Vale. The customers I do have keep the business alive and thriving. My name is Militia; Militia Malachite."

Nodding, the brunette smiled. "Mr. Port told me say that he sent me."

"Ah, you know Peter, I see." Militia stared at the young girl. "I beg your pardon, but your accent is interesting. Where might I ask are you from?"

"Well, I've been told that I was born in Vale, though I don't really remember it. I grew up in Signal. My name is, Ruby, by the way. Ruby Rose."

"So, it's young Ruby, then. Well, Ms. Ruby, how long will you be staying with us in Vale?"

Ruby shook her head. "I'm not the one who decides that. For a while, I think." Finishing her coffee, she placed the amount due on the table and began to leave.

"Well, come back whenever you like."

"Thank you," she said as she approached the door. "I believe I will."

Militia smiled, pleased with having made another happy customer. She turned to clean the table and paused suddenly. The once unlit candles were now lit, each one in the room flickering with a tiny flame. "That girl..."

* * *

"I see," Ironwood said on the phone. Ren stood in front of his desk, waiting to hear the news. "You are certain? Right. Thank you." Hanging up, he turned to Ren. "It seems our replacement took a different plane than the one Headquarters booked for her; she's already in Vale."

"Well, it's not that surprising," Ren said passively.

"No, it's not the first time Headquarters has screwed up and given us wrong information."

"Does she even know where we are?"

"I would assume as much, otherwise she wouldn't try to move on her own." Sighing, Ironwood stood up, and the pair moved to the elevator and rode it to the third floor to inform everyone of the situation. Ren, Jaune, and Blake all left soon after to begin the hunt for Sky Lark, with Mercury sitting at his terminal feeding them information.

The Chief became immediately upset. "Why on this earth does Headquarters always do this to us? Why can't they send us some sensible Hunters who can do what they're told? I'm still suffering from their recruitment of Jaune last year, and now we get this girl!"

"Wait, the replacement is a girl?" Yang asked, having barely paid attention.

"She's only fifteen as well! Why is she so young? A girl who's barely potty trained is going to be our new hunter!"

Yang laughed nervously, causing Ironwood to pass her a glance. "What is it, Yang?"

"The replacement..._might_ have been that girl from this morning," she said.

"W-what?" Torchwick said.

Ironwood nodded and called the front desk from the Chief's desk. After asking Port some questions, he hung up. "The girl who came to see Red was in fact our new hunter."

"I am terribly sorry," Torchwick said. "I'll send someone to fetch her for you, if that's okay."

"No need. I have an idea of where to find her. I'll pick her up myself."

"What? No, sir, I could never dream of putting that much trouble on you. Let me send Yang instead. After all, she's just lazing about while the other Hunters are out investigating."

"Hey!" she protested.

"That's true...she can come with me."

"What!?" both Yang and the Chief exclaimed.

* * *

Ren and the others were already in their respective cars, following Mercury's leads. _"Seems our new hunter is being tracked down by Yang and the Boss."_ he said to Ren.

"That's an unusual combo," he mocked. "Any luck on Sky?"

_"Yeah. There's an old warehouse he used to work at in the industrial area. There have been several reports of a man coming in and out of it during the night when it's supposed to be locked up. It's likely that he's hiding out there. I'm sending you the blueprint to your phone."_

Ren switched to speaker phone and looked at his inbox, where he found the file. Looking over the blueprints, he nodded. "Did you send it to Blake and Jaune?"

_"And to the Chief, should he need to forward it to the Boss. Want to get the hunt on?"_

"Tell Blake and Jaune to meet me there. We're catching this witch."

* * *

Hours later, night fell over the city again and the three hunters waited at the doors to the warehouse. Jaune checked the magazine and air pressure of his Aura gun. "All good," he whispered. Picking up the Aura pendant, the green filled class crucifix around his neck, he made sure that it wasn't going to slip off; just in case the witch were to get a jump on him.

_"Everyone ready?"_ Mercury asked. They all said yes over the radio. _"Move in quietly. With any luck, the witch won't know that we're here."_

Ren nodded as he picked a lock and moved up slowly, checking his corners along the way. "I'm in," he whispered. Ren couldn't see Jaune, but he knew that he was on the other side of the warehouse with Blake not too far away from either of them.

_"This is odd,"_ Mercury whispered. _"If he's here, the witch is being really quiet. I'm not reading any activity."_

"_What about this is normal?"_ Jaune asked over the radio. A moment later, there was a loud thud followed by Jaune's startled, short cry.

"Jaune!" Ren yelled, following the sound until he found him.

"I'm fine," he said. "I just slipped in some sand." Ren looked at the ground and noticed a small pile of sand under Jaune's boot, some of it sticking to the underside of the boot.

"_Don't scare me like that, Jaune!"_ Mercury complained.

Glancing around quickly, he noticed several organized sand structures on the floor, forming a sort of witch alphabet of symbols. "A craft! The witch is here!" Reaching for his pistol, he suddenly felt his feet leave the floor as he hovered horizontally before being thrown into the nearby scaffolding. Looking at his own boots, Ren saw a light brown glow emanate from the sand that was stuck to the bottom. He grabbed his Aura pendant and saw that the green liquid wasn't glowing. "The Aura isn't working properly!" The scaffolding was about to collapse on him, so he quickly rolled away. Standing up, he saw the young man with the mohawk glaring at him; the witch was right in front of him.

Jaune stood and raised his gun to the witch, but the witch levitated a pallet jack and threw it at the blonde, forcing him to try to dodge. He found, however, that the sand on his shoes wouldn't let him budge, and he was soon knocked backwards by the solid steel jack, bruising some of his ribs.

"Damn you all!" Sky yelled as he lifted another pallet jack. Suddenly, to his surprise, his jacket sparked into a small flame. The lapse in concentration forced him to drop the jack to put out the fire. He looked to his right and saw the young brunette, Ruby, standing confidently. "What the hell?" Slowly she approached him. "Get away from me!"

Exerting his power, he willed her body to be torn apart. An explosion of fire appeared before her, seemingly stopping some invisible force that originated from the witch. "You've written your craft in the sand on this land; I have re-written it for mine. This is my field."

Ren look and saw the sand behind her was now an organized circle again containing different symbols than before. "A..craft user. The new replacement?" Sure enough, true to her word, Ren noticed that the sand on his boots had fallen off and was no longer glowing; the witch no longer controlled his craft. _Now it's just his regular power we need to worry about._

"Go to hell!" the witch cried, but suddenly he found himself on fire once more. Fire erupted from nothing all around him, setting crates and bags and shelves on fire as well as himself. Burning, he charged the young girl. This shocked her initially, but she was soon shocked again when she heard the sound of compressed air being fired threw a gun barrel.

Glancing, she saw three black clad Hunters standing around the witch, firing green liquid filled bullets at him. Soon, he lost consciousness and collapsed, his jacket still burning. The blonde grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and put him out while the black haired girl pulled out a device of some kind. "He's well below the red line; he's out. Hey, Mercury, you can send in the Factory guys."

_"Right. Another hunt successful."_

Ruby stared at them in confusion as several men in white hazmat suits entered and put out the remainder of the fires before tying up the witch and dragging him to a black military van. "What are you people doing?"

Blake met her gaze in smiled. "Hey," she said. "We're the Beacon Investigative Witch Hunt Organization; Beacon for short. Unlike back at headquarters, however, we hunt witches without killing them. In some way, you could say it's more humane."

"You must be our new recruit," Jaune said as he approached. "I'm Jaune. She's Blake. We're just two of Beacon's hunters. I heard you already met Yang."

"A craft user, huh?" Blake thought out loud. "Looks like we've got a special addition to the team, right Ren?"

"Ren?" Ruby asked, turning to face the man behind her. He glared at her as he holstered his gun.

"Could you use you craft more efficiently?" he asked.

"What?"

He grunted quietly. "It's a pain in the ass to put out fires."

Blake shook her head. "I'm sorry. He gets like that. He's really nice once you get to know him, though."

* * *

The next morning, during the staff meeting, Ironwood formally introduced everyone to Ruby. "She's unaccustomed to the way we operate," he explained. "Go easy on her until she gets the hang of things here."

The group left the conference room, ready to start the work day. "If you need any help," Blake added. "Feel free to ask any of us. Especially Mercury. He's a little moody at times and prefers to be left alone, but he can be nice every now and then."

"I heard that, Blake," Mercury chimed from his desk, in spite of the fact that he had headphones on that played loud music.

"Follow me," Blake said, leading Ruby to a nearby locker room. Opening a locker that said "R.R." on the front, she pulled out a long black trench coat that Ruby noticed had the Beacon insignia on the left shoulder. "Welcome to Beacon."

* * *

_Song: Shell-Bana_

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Wow, that's a long chapter, eh? So, show of hands; who's watched Witch Hunter Robin? It's an older anime from the early 2000's (is it sad that the early 2000's anime is considered older now?) and its incredibly hard to find. Thankfully, I have the box set from, like, 2005 or some shit. I don't know if I should label this as a crossover or not, since I'm treating it as a RWBY AU where the scenarios are _similar_ to Witch Hunter Robin, but until I really figure it out I'm just gonna leave it as is. Also, I'm not going to tell the Witch Hunter Robin story word for word; this first episode is very similar because I have to start somewhere, but I'm going to try my best to make up more original chapters from here on into the story.

Here's some helpful things to know: Not all RWBY characters maintain their alignment from the actual show here; usually evil characters might be good, and good characters might be evil, etc etc.

Yang and Ruby are not sisters in this story.

Nora is dead. Sad, I know, but that'll be explained further into the story.

Aura is not a passive ability, but a green liquid that hinders, or stops, witch powers.

Witch powers and Crafts are similar, but not the same. Powers remain steady, whereas when you inherit a Craft, you can find ways to enhance it (such as the witch circles drawn in the sand that were used to enhance Sky's craft and later Ruby's craft of fire.)

On that note, Ruby uses a fire craft. I know that Yang is supposed to be the fire girl, but I opted for instead of featuring them as sisters, to tie them together somehow; so while Yang is unrelated to Ruby in this story and has no powers, the fire power that Ruby has is meant to be both a nod to Witch Hunter Robin and at the fact that she and Yang are sisters in the actual show.

Ironwood is the boss of Beacon instead of Ozpin. Weird, I know, but trust me: we'll get to him eventualy.

Militia runs a cafe by herself without Melanie. Again, we'll cover that later. They are still twin sisters, don't worry.

Please leave a review and let me know what you think. :D I've had this idea for a while and I kind of want to see where it will go. Till next time!

Fun Fact: I got a PS4 for Christmas, along with GTA V, The Last of Us, Injustice, and today I bought Guilty Gear Xrd...which I may just make a Team RWBY Plays with, because Guilty Gear is f**cking AWESOME!


	2. Episode 2: Head Like A Hole

_Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the Coven sank in the dark. May: month of emerald. A thief in the dark, struggling to survive this world._

* * *

The sound of heavy footfalls echoed throughout the empty Vale street. Night had fallen, and only a handful of people every came to this part of town at night; usually, the unsavory types. Emerald was running for her life, afraid of what would happen should those men catch up to her. She only stole a little bit of money off of them; she was certain that they wouldn't really miss the small amount that she had taken. Yet here they were, chasing her relentlessly through the alleys.

"She's gone this way!" one of them yelled.

Daring a glance back at her pursuers, she saw three suited men running after her. Panic set in, forcing adrenaline to pump through her system as she ran harder and faster. Attempting to lose them, she turned into another nearby alley, only to find that it was a dead end. "No," she said in a hushed, panicked voice. "No, no, no, this can't be happening!"

"We've got her!" said one of the men. Turning around, she saw that all three of them had made it to the alley and cut her off. "You think you can steal from us and get away with it?"

Scared out of her mind, she backed up until she hit the brick wall behind her. "Please," she whispered. "I didn't take much. I need it. Please, I have to have this money."

Drawing a large pocket knife from his jacket, the middle suit stepped forward. "So, how to punish the little thief? Cut her up? Slice an eye out? Cover her face in scars?"

"Nah," said the rightmost man. "Just gut her and be done with it. She's not worth the time."

The left man groaned. "Do we have to off her _now_? She looks pretty damn good. Maybe we can..._preserve_ her for a while longer?" He gave Emerald a full body glance; from her worn out shoes, up her dark legs and over her shorts, pausing at her exposed midriff before his eyes finished on her face.

"No," she whispered, begging them. "Please, just let me go." She reached into her pocket and pulled out fifty lien; the money she had stolen. "I-if you want your money back, here. I just want to go. Please."

The men looked amongst themselves, ignoring her words as they silently debated. "Fine," the middle man said to the left man. "She's yours. Save some for me, though. Aight?"

"Aight," he agreed. Approaching Emerald, he started to undo his belt. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Emerald's fear began to grow. He grabbed her and shoved her against the wall. One of his hands grabbed her by the chest as he leaned in and tried to lick her face. Her eyes shot wide open as she screamed, and soon there came a wet, crunching sound. She collapsed as the man let go of her; he was on the ground writhing in pain. No sound escaped his throat, as it was crushed. She watched him twitch violently as he slowly died.

"What the hell?" the other men asked. One pulled a gun and was about to take fire. Emerald met their eyes and watched with horror as they began to do the same as their comrade. Wet crunching noises reverberated off the walls as they fell in pain to the ground.

Her eyes full of tears, she watched them slowly die before she fearfully stood and started to run away as quickly as she could. At the last second, she had an errant thought: dead men don't need wallets.

* * *

~Witch Hunter Ruby~

Episode 2: Head Like A Hole

Wearing the brand new black trench coat that was used as Beacon's work uniform, Ruby entered the gate of the property and approached the password locked door. Fumbling around her pockets, she searched for the combination code that she had written down on a scrap of paper the night before. "Where is it?" she asked out loud. Suddenly, she heard a click as the door came unlocked on its own. She gave a curious glance before turning to the front desk behind her, where Port smiled at her; his finger was leaving the unlock button on his desk. "Thank you," she said, bowing politely, before entering her new workplace.

The front "lobby" of Beacon was unlike any other lobby Ruby had ever seen. It was a cold, hard grey stone room with what looked like a well in the center of the room. Upon closer inspection, however, she realized that it was purely for decoration, as it was only as deep as the floor around it. At the end of the lobby was the old style elevator with the metal bar doors. Ruby entered and rode it to the third floor.

The metal door grinded open as she stepped out of the elevator; today was her first real day on the job. The first thing she noticed was that Jaune and Blake were hovering over Mercury's workstation. Approaching, Ruby peaked over Mercury's chair to see what they were looking at. Three different monitors and a laptop each sat on the desk, each one displaying different windows of information documents, emails, and web browsers, with the exception of the laptop, which appeared the most personal of the four screens; on it, a music library and several social media sites were open. "What's going on?"

Mercury shook his head. "They're trying to sneak a peek at today's assignments. I swear, you Hunters; I don't know if you're the most dedicated or the most competitive with your work."

"Can't help it," Jaune said. "Gotta beat Ren someday, you know."

Mercury scoffed. "Good luck on that."

"Oh," Blake spoke up. "Ruby, since you're over here, I suppose I should show you your workstation." Grabbing Ruby by the arm gently, she led the younger girl to the desk behind directly behind Mercury. "Whatever you leave on this desk is safe from anyone who isn't named Mercury or Yang. Keep that in mind."

Ruby nodded. "Thank you," she stated happily.

"Mercury," came the low voice of Ren. Everyone looked up to see him and Ironwood standing at the doorway to the conference room. "It's time."

Nodding, Mercury unplugged a flash drive from the multi-monitor desktop and plugged it into the laptop, picking it up as he stood and made his way to the room. "Come on," he said to Ruby. "Time to start your first day of work."

A moment later, everyone was in the conference room, with Yang barging in at the last second. "Safe!" she cried before noticing Ironwood. "O-oh."

"Ms. Xiao Long; how nice of you to join us this morning." Gesturing to the seat for her to sit down, he motioned for Mercury to start the meeting.

Clearing his throat, Mercury hooked his laptop to the holographic projectors built into the table."Right. Last night the police department received a call about a local disturbance in downtown Vale. Upon arriving at the scene, they found three male corpses; all of them John Does. Their wallets and IDs were missing, and they all seem to have died violently."

"Sounds like they were mugged," Jaune said.

"Except your typical mugger can't do _this_." Hitting a button, three pictures of the dead bodies came up onto the projectors for each person to see; it was a disturbing display of mangled flesh. "Their organs and several bones were crushed. No murder weapon was found and there are no exterior wounds; they were crushed from the inside."

"That's just creepy," Yang commented.

"Do we have any witches, or possible witches in the directory with powers like this?" Ren asked.

"None. I've spent all morning digging and so far I've found nothing. If I had to guess, I'd wager that these men were harassing our witch when they suddenly awakened; new witch, new powers."

"Why would their wallets be missing?" Ruby asked.

"Really?" Yang deadpanned. "In that part of town, it's a miracle the police even got a phone call."

"You're not wrong," Mercury chimed in. "The police only handed this case over because of the government rulings on our cases; they're actually very reluctant to give this one up to us. While we can't currently identify our three victims, they each had a tattoo on their wrists marking them as members of the local crime syndicate; the White Fang."

"Wonderful," Blake said. "Let's hope we don't get on the wrong side of them."

"Eh," Jaune said smugly. "Worst case scenario, Ruby can just crisp 'em up, right?"

"No," Ironwood interrupted. "Legally, the moment a craft user uses his or her powers on a human they are to be treated as witches. Ruby can't use her power against the White Fang. We need to treat this case discreetly if they're involved."

"Oh," Jaune stated. "I didn't know that was a law."

"Haven Headquarters placed that law into affect over two hundred years ago," Ruby said. "It was to keep witch hunters in line and prevent them from becoming too addicted to their powers. The failsafe was that if they ever became rampant they were to be put to death immediately by their fellow hunters."

The room became silent. Jaune sighed. "Just like..."

"Anyway," Ren interrupted. "Jaune; take Ruby to the crime scene and investigate further. Meanwhile, Blake and Yang will consult with the officers who were on scene and visit the morgue; see if you can get any more information from the bodies. I'll work with Mercury to double check out database; I find it hard to believe that we've been witch hunting for all these centuries and haven't seen this power before."

"One final thing," Ironwood said. "Ruby, I didn't get a chance to speak with you after that last hunt. Come to my office." Turning to face the rest of the hunters, he nodded. "Good luck."

Everyone stood and made their way out of the meeting room. Jaune waved at Ruby, saying, "I'll wait for you here," as she followed Ironwood to his upstairs office.

The room was rather large for its purpose, and it contained a window that looked over the conference room that Ruby never even noticed while she was in it. Ironwood sad down at his desk and poured a small glass of brandy for himself. "So, a Signal hunter who's been sent here by Headquarters to replace our...casualty." Ruby nodded. "What do you know about your predecessor here at Beacon?"

"Only that her power became out of control. She was consumed by it before a Hunter could eliminate her, accidentally killing herself. That's it," she answered.

"We do not eliminate our witches, Ruby," Ironwood said. "I used to work at Headquarters. I didn't like it. I'm not fond of witches, but they are still people. While it's true that many witches use their powers maliciously, there are many that don't understand what it is that they do. Our current hunt, for example, is likely hiding somewhere trying to understand what they've done to three men. We don't kill someone for not knowing how to control their own bodies. We _capture_ them and incapacitate their powers."

"Yes," Ruby said. "With the Aura."

Ironwood nodded. "The Aura bullets incapacitate witches, while Aura pendants protect our hunters. It has the drawback of weakening a hunter's powers if they have any to speak of, but most of our hunters are humans who've descended from witches somewhere in their family history but have no powers of their own. Normal human's can't use the Aura; it causes a strain on the body and creates a myriad of medical issues. But those descended from witches have the strength to resist the side effects."

"Am I the only one here who actually has any powers?"

He shook his head. "You and Blake are our only two craft users. Though, you've actually studied and honed your power. Blake's power came to her when she was very young, and she's resists using it unless she absolutely has to. Her power isn't exactly helpful during a hunt, though it has come in handy during investigations."

"I see," Ruby thought for a moment. "Sir, with respect, I don't want to use the Aura."

"You don't?" he asked.

"No, I find it repulsive. I've become dependent on my power for hunting, and I can't afford to have it be weakened by something that I feel that I really don't need."

He smiled. "I see. Well, that's your prerogative. I hope you change your mind. I don't know why you're here, Ruby, and considering that Headquarters themselves have sent you I can't help but feel somewhat suspicious of you. As I said, I'm not fond of Headquarters. That being said, you are in my care now, and as your supervisor I want to insure your safety. If you ever decide to wear an Aura pendant, just let me know." He sipped at his brandy for a moment. "You may go. Today is your first official Beacon hunt."

Ruby nodded and left to make her way back to Jaune, who was chatting with Neo casually before he saw Ruby. "Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah," she answered politely.

"Let's get going then. My car is in the garage."

* * *

Blake climbed off of Yang's motorcycle as quickly as she could when they arrived at the police station. "I hate this thing," she said. "I hate it so much." She held a hand over her mouth, forcing herself to not throw up.

"Oh, come on, don't wimp out on me now. We're about to go look at three mangled corpses, and you find _bike riding_ nauseating?"

"I like corpses better," Blake added as the pair walked up the concrete stairs in front of the station. "Corpses don't drive above the speed limit during rush hour."

Yang shook her head. "I hope the new girl has a stronger stomach than you." She grabbed the door handle and gestured for Blake to go in first. Approaching the front desk, they showed the attendant their IDs and were led to the downstairs morgue.

The rooms downstairs were always dark and cold. Blake and Yang were left to their own devices until they needed assistance, which they gratefully accepted; no one really needed to see how they do their job. Within a few minutes, they found the bodies of the three White Fang members and Blake pulled out their drawers to look at them. The first man she revealed was twisted horribly, with his arms and legs taking strange shapes that human limbs were never meant to take. Yang gagged at the sight and covered her mouth, causing Blake to smile. "I hope the new girl has a stronger stomach than you," she teased, echoing Yang's words.

"Bite me," Yang said through a muffled voice.

Blake smiled a moment longer before returning her focus to the corpse before her. She removed her left hand from her pocket and held it nervously over the body. "Be ready to catch me," she said, to which Yang nodded in response. Carefully she placed her hand upon the dead man, and her vision blacked out as a myriad of emotions washed through her. _Happiness _from a night on the town with his friends. _Anticipation_ for his next assignment. _Anger_ when he saw that he'd been robbed, or cheated. _Amusement_, seemingly at some one's expense. _Fear_ for his life. _Agony._ _Nothingness_. That last one was always tricky; it was for that feeling of nothingness that Blake avoided using her power, and she quickly forced her hand away from him as she started to fall to her knees.

Yang, per their agreement, caught her before she hit the ground. "What did you feel?"

Panting, Blake stood back up. "He was having a normal enough night until someone robbed him, or something similar. Likely our witch. I believe they gave chase and cornered the would be thief, until that thief turned out to be a witch." She glanced over him. "He died painfully. Granted, he died quickly, roughly thirty seconds. But those thirty seconds must have felt like a lifetime of hell."

"Should we check the other two?"

"We need to be thorough, but I'd wager that we won't learn much more than that." Blake turned to the other two, one at a time, and repeated the process. True to her opinion, they felt much the same during the encounter with the witch. Except for one man, who felt something slightly different at some point; _arousal_. Gasping, she looked at Yang with a smile. "Assuming he matches up with the average sexuality, I believe our witch is female. He was turned on right before he died, and seemed to have some sexual fantasies about the thief. Presumably."

"Go girl power," Yang said sarcastically. "I guess it's a good thing I don't do _this_ to every man that fantasizes about me."

"Yeah," Blake said with a smile. "We'd likely not have a man for miles, if what you _claim_ is true." Yang shook her head. Smiling still, Blake put the bodies back the way they found them and the two hunters made their way out of the building. Blake pulled out her work cell phone to call Mercury."

* * *

"Any luck on your end?" Ren asked from his computer desk next to Mercury's. "I'm not coming up with anything."

"I'm in the same boat, man," Mercury replied before he shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth. His desk was always littered with seemingly random snacks that Neo brought him. "I've got four different searches running and I still haven't found anything."

"Really?" Ren asked sarcastically. "I only count three searches. The fourth screen is playing cat videos."

Mid chew, Mercury glared at Ren. "Man's gotta have a hobby, right? Who _doesn't_ like cat videos? Besides, that's just the front window. My laptop is running the fourth search in the background."

"Could you please not talk with your mouth full," the Chief said from his desk on the other side of the room as he was doing paperwork. "Neo, could you get me some more tea?"

"Sure thing," she said as she eagerly left the room to prepare the drink; Mercury always noticed that she was never truly happy if she wasn't giving someone food or drink.

Emphasized once more by the fact that every single snack on his desk was brought in by her, he happily ate another handful of popcorn just seconds before his desk phone began to ring. Quickly washing the snack down with a large gulp of cherry soda, he answered the phone. "What do you have?" he asked immediately. He knew it was the one of the hunters; no one else had his desk number.

He listened to Blake explain what her powers detected in the bodies of the victims before hanging up. "Well, there's some _decent_ news, I suppose. Blake has narrowed down our investigation by gender: she believe that there is a high chance that our witch is a female. Seems one of our John Does held some..._unsavory_ thoughts towards our suspect."

"In a city the size of Vale, that barely narrows down our search; but I suppose every bit helps," Ren commented.

Mercury nodded and heard a beep from his left computer screen. "Hello," he said in a low voice. "I think we may have something."

"Let me see," Ren stood and leaned over Mercury's chair to read the file.

"It's an old record; older than most of our records actually. It dates back to around the same time as the Salem Trials. Unrelated, of course, but that's just how old it is."

"Do we have an exact date?"

"Somewhere around the period of 1698 and 1700 it would seem. A witch with a similar power was found out and sentenced to burn at the stake."

"I take it Headquarters passed the sentence?"

"Yeah. This was back when they were still a subsidiary of the Church, but it's one of their oldest known cases. Back then, if a witch was discovered they'd not only be killed, but so would their entire family. It never came up in my initial searches because, if this is accurate, there's not a single living member of this witch's family."

"Of course, Headquarters would be okay with committing populicide just because a handful of them were witches."

"It must have been effective," Mercury commented. "Looking at some of these other cases from back then, I'm learning about a lot of things we've not seen for centuries. Still, it seems a bit extreme, even for them."

"Back then religion was more important. People would do extreme things in the name of faith," Ren added. "I'm actually amazed this record still exists. You'd think it would have been destroyed or lost in the last four hundred years."

"Well, somewhere in Headquarters there's a physical copy of this on a four hundred year old scrap of paper. Someone's been maintaining it, and thank goodness they did. It's unlikely, but there is the _slightest_ chance that a member of this family escaped and carried the witch's genetic code. Our new witch just _might_ be the remnant of a very, _very_ lucky individual. They may even be the first witch in the family since 1698."

"It's a shame that she awakened now," Ren commented. "Start looking into Vale's family records; see if you can trace anyone back to the 1698 hunts."

"You got it," Mercury said. Starting the next leg of the investigation, he opened a bag of cheese puffs and began to munch away.

* * *

Emerald strolled calmly down the street, wearing the new clothes that she bought with the money she found in the wallets of the three men who attacked her. She felt an overwhelming sense of guilt all day, knowing that she was somehow responsible for the way those men died. Sure, she didn't like them, but she was a thief; she'd never intended to kill anyone ever. The police had come by after she left, took their crime scene photos, removed the bodies, and taped off the area. Half the day had gone by and she decided to revisit the scene in the hopes that she could either understand what had happened, or to at least come to terms with it and move on.

So it struck her as odd when she saw a black car pull up in front of the buildings adjacent to the alley where the crime scene was taped off and two people stepped out; one young man, and a young woman, each wearing a matching black trench coat. The man approached the tape and lifted it so he could crouch and move underneath it while he was reading something on his phone. The woman, however, paused and gave her a quick glance. Emerald, not wanted to look suspicious, made it appear that she was trying to mind her own business. After a moment, she heard the man call for the woman and she soon followed him beyond the tape.

_Must be the cops again_, she thought. _Detectives? Probably._ She laughed inwardly; there was no way they would ever figure out that she, a thin lightweight young woman, had brutally murdered three men. She was about to leave and come back later when she saw two suited men approach from another alley and enter the crime scene. They gave off the same vibe to her as the three she'd killed. _I don't like the look of that_, she thought as the men disappeared into the alley behind the cops.

Quickly and silently, she made note of the fact that the building next to the alley was vacant and abandoned, so she ran into it to observe the alley from a high up window.

* * *

Ruby and Jaune arrived at the crime scene. Jaune put his car into park and gave Ruby a friendly smile. "Welcome to the ass end of town; please keep all valuables on your person at all times and don't get within arm's reach of _anyone _aside from me if you don't want to get robbed."

Ruby blinked a couple of times in confusion. "Uh...okay."

"Let's go," Jaune said. The pair exited the vehicle, and Jaune locked it remotely. "This way." He motioned to the crime scene tape. Lifting it up, he crouched underneath and moved into the alley, all the while reading a message from his phone that was sent by Blake; the witch was probably a woman. Ruby started to follow but noticed a dark skinned, green haired young woman watching her. Ever curious, Ruby stared back at her for a moment or two until she heard Jaune say, "Come on, Ruby. We've got work to do."

"Okay," she muttered as she crossed the tape and followed Jaune into the alley. The scene was covered in plastic markers that the initial investigators used to photograph potential evidence. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary; there was no blood, the chalk lines of the victims were still on the ground, and none of the evidence seemed relevant to the witch hunt.

"Great," Jaune said. "This is useless. There's nothing here that can help us. Maybe if Blake was here she could learn something, but she's off looking at the bodies right now."

"How could Blake help?" Ruby asked. "Does it have to do with her power?"

"You haven't heard yet?" Jaune asked. Ruby shook her head. "Blake has the ability to sense emotion from direct contact. If you ever notice, she avoids touching things that don't belong to her because of this."

"She can get that from touching _anything_?"

"Yep. Comes in handy for our investigations. Though, compared to your power its impractical on the actual hunt."

"I see," Ruby thought for a moment. "I did hear that because of the Aura's side effects, only hunters who are distant descendants of witches can use the Aura pendant and the bullets. Are you worried that you might someday awaken?"

"Not really. I may be a witch's descendant, but I'm a witch _hunter_ first. Awakening with a power would probably just make be a better hunter and classify me as a craft user."

"What about my predecessor?" she asked. "What happened to her?"

Jaune got awkwardly silent for a moment. "You don't know? I mean, seeing as how Headquarters sent you, I kind of assumed..."

"I was only told that her power went rampant and that she accidentally killed herself. I was never told the details."

He sighed. "Nora...Well, it was only six months ago, Ruby. It's still pretty fresh for us, and we were all pretty personal with her. I don't think any of us are ready to talk about it. And when we are, I doubt it'll be me that tells you. It's not my place." Glancing over Ruby's shoulders, his eyes narrowed. "Ruby, come closer," he whispered.

Out of her peripheral vision, Ruby saw movement from behind her. She obeyed Jaune and stood next to him. Discreetly, he handed her a small Aura gun. "Since you can't scorch em," he whispered. She nodded, gripping the small, pocket sized handgun tightly. Even just holding this small amount of Aura, she could feel her powers being drained. She wanted to drop the gun and be rid of it, and that made her grip the gun tighter.

"Well, what have we here?" asked one of the two men who had snuck up on Ruby and Jaune. "You know, your pals from late last night were cool with us; they were trying to find out what happened to our mates, and we appreciate that. But still, we don't much like to have cops in our turf, y'know?"

"Yeah," the other one said cockily. "If I's you, I would leave. Cept we aint gonna let you leave."

Jaune pulled out a fake Vale Police Department ID and showed it to them. "I'm Detective Arc from the Vale Police Department. I'm here for the investigation regarding the deaths of three unknown men."

"Look et that!" the right man said. "He's even got a badge! Aint he special!"

"I'm warning you," Jaune said as he reached for his gun slowly. "Leave the crime scene, or I'll have to use force."

"Bitch, make me!" the left man yelled as he pulled his own gun and took aim. Before Jaune could draw his own gun, he heard a loud crack as bone broke; the man's arm just snapped in half. "Aaaaugh~!" he screamed in agony before his throat caved in, killing him.

"What the hell?" the second man asked.

Jaune panicked. "The witch is still here!" he exclaimed.

"Forget this, man!" the man yelled as he tried to run away; in the process, both of his legs caved inward. He collapsed and screamed until his skull caved in.

Jaune ducked behind a dumpster to try to stay out of the witch's line of sight, holding his Aura gun at the ready by now. Ruby, on the other hand, calmly looked around the area, seeking out the witch. After a moment, she caught sight of the same green haired woman she saw from earlier; she was hiding in a nearby building, watching from a window. She caught sight of Ruby staring at her, and she very clearly panicked as she ran away.

"She's about to exit that building," Ruby said calmly.

"Then let's go get her!" Jaune exclaimed as the two gave chase. They exited the alley at the same time that she ran out of the building. "Freeze!" Jaune yelled, causing the woman to stop in her tracks. "Hands where I can see them!"

"Please, don't!" she cried back. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone! The first ones attacked me, and those two were about to kill you...I don't know _how_ I did it, but I did!"

"Turn around!"

Obeying, she turned and met Ruby's and Jaune's gazes. "Please, I don't understand what's happening to me! Don't hurt me."

Jaune narrowed his vision and pulled the trigger, firing an Aura bullet into the girl's shoulder. Recoiling from the pain, her eyes expressed pure terror. Narrowing her vision, she willed the barrel of his gun to implode, causing his firearm to jam. "Damn it!" he exclaimed as the barrel made a horrendous grinding noise, crushing itself shut.

With the distraction, the girl began to flee. Ruby's eyes narrowed and turned a slight shade of red as she willed fire to stop the girl. However, due to the distance, she missed and only scared the girl into running faster until she was lost in the sea of run down buildings.

Jaune cursed once more before throwing his gun down angrilly. Pulling our his phone, he made a quick phone call. "Mercury, we've encountered the witch. Call the police department and have them seal off this part of downtown; tell them to look for a young woman with bright green hair, dark skin, and red eyes. Right, we'll be here. Also, tell Ren I need a new gun. Bye." Hanging up, he looked at Ruby. "I'm gonna need that small one back," he muttered, retrieving it from Ruby. "This one is meant for emergencies only, but I suppose it'll do."

"Are you sure the police can contain her?" Ruby asked.

"She ran deeper into the structures. We can seal off the exits before she makes her way back out. Also, she was afraid of herself; unless she gets exceptionally desperate, she won't risk hurting the police. It's too dangerous for her."

"So what now?"

"Now," Jaune said. "We wait."

* * *

_Song: Head Like A Hole - Nine Inch Nails_

**Author's Note**

Only into the second chapter and I have to split this into two parts. Tune in for Episode 3 when they start the hunt for emerald. Also, the songs I'm using aren't terribly important: they just happen to be SOME of the songs I'm listening too when I write this; sometimes they'll be chapter titles, sometimes they won't be. I have listened to ALOT of Soundwitch for this though. It's a Japanese rock band with witchcraft as their theme. Using their music is a poor attempt on my part at being clever.

So, what do you guys think so far? I can just about promise you that every chapter for this story is going to be long like this, thus why I'm referring to them as Episodes, rather than Chapters. Please leave a review and let me know what you think! :D

Till next time!

Fun fact: I'm addicted to my PS4. Guilty Gear is the shit, GTA V on the next gen is incredible, and I finally started playing The Last of Us for the first time. My god, that has to be the saddest intro for a game ever.

Fun Fact 2.0: I name all of my hardware, and my PS4 is no exception. Since I firmly believe that it is the current ruler of the consoles (and I don't say that lightly, because I play ALL consoles, and PC), I decided to give it the name of royalty: so I named it Cleopatra. :D


	3. Episode 3: Without

_Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the coven sank in the dark. Descendant; the sole survivor. A long chain of life that must someday be broken._

* * *

Frantically, Emerald ran from alley to alley, frequently looking behind to see if the blonde man and the woman were following her; to her surprise each time, she never saw them. Her right arm was weak where she was shot. She was shocked to find that there wasn't any real damage; whatever he shot at her broke on impact and splattered a thick, green liquid all over her shoulder. Whatever it was made her feel slightly weak, however.

Feeling as though she had come a safe enough distance, she leaned with her full weight against a brick wall. Tears were streaming from her eyes. "What did I do to deserve this?" she asked aloud. A nearby broken window caught her eyes and she noticed her fragmented reflection in the dirty glass. "What...what _am_ I?"

The sound of police sirens broke her from her thoughts; they were getting closer. Running into the building to get a safer vantage point, she looked and saw that the nearest road out of this area was blocked off by patrol cars; police officers and swat teams circled the perimeter of downtown vale. Emerald cursed under her breath; she'd been a thief for many years, and she knew how the police operated. _I'll bet the other ways out are blocked off as well,_ she thought. She knew these streets better than most, however. She knew how to run, and how to hide. She also knew that there were a lot of underground tunnels in the area for utility lines; water, gas, electricity. She stood a good chance at escaping through these utility tunnels.

And that's exactly where she decided to go.

* * *

~Witch Hunter Ruby~

Episode 3: Without

* * *

Jaune paced impatiently while Ruby sat on a nearby concrete barrier. Police cruisers and swat vans were parked all around the area, with the officers themselves standing behind wooden police barriers. They were also impatient; they clearly wanted to do this their way and simply storm the whole area to look for this witch.

Not that many of them knew that she was a witch; if Jaune had to guess, only two or three of the lieutenants even knew that witches existed. Most of the police present must have thought that they were blocking the way for a dangerous criminal. _Well, they wouldn't be wrong_, Jaune thought to himself.

Ruby noticed movement from beyond the police barrier. "Look," she said, pointed for Jaune to see. A black car pulled up along with a yellow motorcycle, and their three fellow hunters crossed the barrier from their respective vehicles.

"The cavalry," Jaune muttered as he waved them over.

"Where's the witch?" Ren asked as he approached.

Jaune gestured towards to close knit collection of concrete and brick buildings. "There's hundreds of places she could be. We couldn't risk following her alone; we ran into two White Fang thugs right before we saw her."

"Before?" Blake asked.

Ruby nodded. "She killed them, just like the three from last night. She did so to protect us, I think."

"She's probably regretting that decision now. I tried to take her down while she was panicked." He pulled out the destroyed Aura gun and showed it to the group of hunters. "That...didn't go as planned."

"Chief won't like that," Yang said flatly.

"Well, I feel lucky that she decided on crushing the gun instead of me. He should feel privileged that he even _gets_ to yell at me again."

"Did you get a shot off?" Ren asked.

"Yeah," Jaune nodded. "I clipped her right shoulder. Not enough to bring her down..."

"But enough to weaken her somewhat. Good. If she's a newly awakened witch, then she's unstable. The less effective her power, the better our odds are at capturing her."

"She's afraid," Ruby interrupted. The others turned to face her as she stood from the barrier and stepped forward. "She doesn't want to hurt anyone, but she's afraid. Fear only allows a witch's power to grow more rampant. The longer we hunt her, the more likely it is that she'll hurt someone else, or herself for that matter." She stared into the jungle of buildings before her. "She's scared, alone, and out of control."

"We need to be quick," Ren added. "Yang, Blake, you two search the east buildings. Jaune, you coordinate with Mercury to try to narrow down our search; see if he can dig up an architectural layout of the area. Ruby and I will search the west buildings."

"Right," Jaune said.

Yang and Blake made their way to their designated area, and Ren started to lead Ruby to theirs. "Oh," Ren added and stopped for a moment. "I almost forgot. This is yours." Drawing a new Aura gun, he tossed it to Jaune, who clumsily caught it. "You break that one, you'll be paying for the replacement. Aura guns aren't cheap."

"R-right."

"Let's go, Ruby," Ren said, leading the young hunter away.

* * *

"I don't like this," Blake said quietly as she and Yang searched the alleyways in the eastern part of the area. "If her emotional state goes out of control, there's a very good chance that her power may become too strong for the Aura pendants to stop."

"Gre~at," Yang said dryly. "Way to boost my morale, Blake. I've always wanted to _fantasize_ about someone crushing and twisting my inner organs. Gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling, you know."

Blake scoffed. "Sorry, but it's a possiblity. The Aura is new invention that the Factory only started producing in the last year. We still haven't fully tested its limits, and this hunt is a little one sided."

"How do you figure?"

"Think about it; a young woman wouldn't normally be stalked by the White Fang. They may be a more organized criminal outfit, but they're still a gang. They're more concerned with drug trafficking and territory disputes than they are with the people who walk the streets. I think she's from this part of town, and she tried to steal from the White Fang." She peeked into a broken window with a flashlight, seeing only a couple of homeless guys napping in the corner.

"Who'd be dumb enough to do that?" Yang asked as she opened a nearby door, eyeballing the interior for a moment. "Aren't they the biggest criminal organization in Vale?"

Blake nodded as they moved down the alley, preparing to check the next building. "That may be the case, but they aren't stupid. They know that there are plenty of people who'd want White Fang members dead. That's why they cover their tattoos usually. The three victims we visited, for example, were wearing suits with cuffs over the wrists. They like to be able to identify their enemy, while they themselves continue to blend in to the crowd. It's likely that the witch didn't know that they were White Fang when she tried to rob them."

Yang shook her head. "Too bad they didn't know that she was a witch."

"She most likely didn't either," Blake commented. "But once she realized what she'd done, I'd wager that she reasoned that a dead man doesn't need money, so she still got what she was after to begin with."

Yang tried to open a door and found that it was locked. Knocking, she asked if anyone was inside. An old man poked his head out and briefly conversed with Yang until she found out that the witch wasn't hiding here either. Sighing, she turned to face Blake. "Ruby and Jaune described her as being very young. How old do you think she is?"

Blake shrugged. "Late teens to early twenties, most likely."

"Wow," Yang muttered. "I can't imagine what it's like to need to steal to survive at such an age."

"I can," Blake commented, shocking Yang. "Trust me, being homeless when your twelve isn't easy. There's only so many ways you can live."

"Y-you were-"

"Not anymore," Blake quickly interrupted. Approaching a brick wall, she noticed something peculiar: a greenish, syrupy liquid was stuck to the wall. Carefully, she placed a bare hand onto the wall and allowed her vision to go black as she focused on the most recent of events the wall had experienced. _Fear, panic, pain, exhaustion...she was running. Focused. She was running somewhere specific._ Jerking her hand away, Blake almost collapsed before Yang happened to spot her.

Catching her partner quickly, Yang felt annoyed. "A little warning, next time? God only knows how many disease and drug filled needles are littered in these alleys."

"Sorry," Blake said, panting heavily. "Whoever my ancestor was that first got this power...I hate them. So much."

"Get anything useful?"

Nodding, Blake stood back up on her own out of Yang's arms. "She went through here recently. The liquid on the wall is from the Aura bullet that Jaune shot into her shoulder; she likely was about to collapse and caught herself on the wall before she continued running."

"Which way did she go?"

"Don't know," Blake admitted. "But we must be getting close."

Yang flipped a switch on her personal radio. "We found a trace amount of Aura on a wall in the eastern section; she's been through here recently. Don't know where she's run off to, though."

_"Right,"_ Ren replied from the radio. _"We can't afford to assume that she's still in the east. Keep searching; Ruby and I will double our efforts in the west."_

"Alright. We'll call in if we find anything else." Yang turned to face Blake for a moment. "Let's go. And keep your hands in your pockets; I don't want you collapsing onto a box of needles and getting Hepatitis or something."

Blake smiled. "Wouldn't be a problem if you were always able to catch me."

"When this is over, I'm buying you a pair of gloves," Yang shot back. "Or, better yet, I'll go find some teen girl's diary and glue it to your hands! That'll teach you not to go touching things without warning."

"That's...unnecessarily cruel."

* * *

"Shouldn't we go to where Yang and Blake are?" Ruby asked Ren.

Ren paused as he knelt down to attempt to look inside of a shack made out of metal roofing. "No," he said flatly. "They can handle their end on their own for now. We can't guarantee that the witch didn't make her way to this side, either." Standing up, he turned and kept walking without telling Ruby, who followed a moment later.

They had been searching for twenty minutes to no avail, and while Ruby didn't appear fazed in the slightest by the apparent loss of the witch, Ren seemed to be growing irritated by the minute. They had already cleared several buildings, some of them several stories tall, yet they couldn't find any trace of the witch. Blake and Yang's report just now was the closest thing to good news they had heard since the hunt began.

"Something's not right," Ren whispered after a time. "We shouldn't be having this much trouble finding the witch. Even with our limited man power, Jaune was able to clip her with an Aura bullet; she's in a weakened state."

Ruby blinked in confusion for a moment. "Then, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that she's still somewhere on the east side?"

"Yes," Ren agreed. "But we've heard very little from over there. Even now, with the evidence that she was over there recently, we haven't heard of anything else."

Ruby nodded. "Do you think it's possible that the witch escaped?"

Ren shook his head, but paused. "It shouldn't be possible; the police have the entire area quarantined right now. No one is allowed in or out until the hunt is concluded. But..."

"But?"

Ren stopped walking and put a finger on his chin in thought. He flipped a switch on his radio and addressed Mercury. "Have you found a blueprint of downtown from the city records yet?"

_"Yeah, several actually,"_ Mercury replied. _"But there's a problem; the city council voted to have the whole infrastructure remodeled about ten years ago, but they never finished. There's no way to tell which blueprints are accurate right now."_

Ren scoffed in annoyance. "Leave it to the municipal government to forget to finish a public works project. What can you piece together?"

_"Well, I can't tell for sure if it's actually there, but according to the architect's notes and maps, they had planned to do away with utility poles in that area. They were going to bury all of the major utility lines; phone, power, television, all of it. Even plumbing and gas lines that hadn't been run out that far were planned."_

Glancing around, Ren noticed that there were still utility poles in the area; most of them seemed to be in use. "And this is helpful to us...how?"

_"They still needed to gain access to the utility lines. If something goes wrong with the power, for example, it'd be too much of a pain to rip up the sidewalk and dig down to the electrical lines. So, they had planned to build utility tunnels under the streets. Some of the buildings were going to have access ducts in the basements, but I don't see any manholes in the road here on the blueprints."_

Ren nodded. "Do you know if they ever got around to it?"

Mercury laughed. _"You kidding? I don't know who's been keeping up with the files at city hall for the last decade, but if I was in charge I'd have fired their asses ten years ago. I'm sure if I dug deep enough, I'd probably find a work schedule and a completion log; the problem there is that _you_ aren't looking at the pile of files that they sent over. None of it is digital, and they aren't even organized properly. What little I did find was filed next to election results from forty years ago."_ Mercury trailed off away from the microphone for a moment, seemingly ranting about "obsolete physical storage plans."

"Damn it," Ren muttered. "Send me the blueprints you have; I'm going to look for the nearest _supposed_ access duct to these utility tunnels. If they were ever built, I'll find them."

_"Roger,"_ Mercury replied before Ren turned to Ruby.

"Open your phone," he said. Obeying, she saw that Mercury had sent the files to her as well; he most likely sent it to all of them. "Look for a landmark that tells us where we are in relation to the map, then locate the nearest access duct."

Nodding, Ruby traced her finger along the map until she found where she thought she was. "You think the witch is hiding underground?"

"According to these blueprints," Ren stated. "The utility tunnels would be big enough for three people of average build to walk shoulder to shoulder; if they were built, it stands to reason that she would've found them and would use them as a hide out."

Ruby studied the map for a couple of minutes before she made a low gasping noise. "I think I've found one. Four buildings from here to the south, there _should_ be a door in the basement that leads into these tunnels." She glanced up from her phone and saw Ren's somewhat skeptical face. "Hopefully," she added as an afterthought.

Ren nodded before he switched his radio for the other hunters to hear him. "We think we've found an access point on our end. Yang, Blake, if these tunnels exist, meet us down there. Jaune, stick with the police line and patrol it. If the witch surfaces, you might be the only one to catch her until we come up as well."

* * *

Blake nodded upon hearing Ren's orders and turned to Yang. "Find anything near us?" she asked as Yang stared at her phone in confusion.

"Who the hell designs this crap?" she asked as she puzzled over the blueprints.

"Engineers and architects usually. Sometimes really creative five-year-olds. Semantics, really. Now, have you found _anything_ near us yet?"

Yang was silent for a moment until she arched one of her eyebrows. "M~aybe? I _think_ there's an access point in..." trailing off, she looked up from her phone and looked around. Approaching a building to her right, she pointed at it excitedly. "This building!"

Blake nodded. "If you're wrong," she said teasingly. "I'll touch something you own." Slowly, she entered the building.

Yang shuddered for a moment. "That'd be bad for both of us, wouldn't it?"

"Some things are worth collapsing and possibly going into a seizure over; your misery is one of them."

Yang shook her head as she followed Blake into the building and down a flight of stairs. "Sometimes, you craft users scare me."

"Who knows, maybe you'll awaken with a power of your own," Blake added. "I wonder what that power would be..."

"The power to be _sexy_!"

"Not a craft," the black haired girl deadpanned. "Also, if what you say is true, then you already have that power. Maybe I'm hunting the wrong witch? The world doesn't need a witch who's craft is to be conceited."

Pouting, Yang threw her hands into the air. "I thought we were friends!"

"Do you see me teasing anyone else?"

"Oh, joy to me. I should feel _so_ privileged," the blonde said flatly. Suddenly, Blake stopped at the bottom of the stairs, causing Yang to accidentally bump into her. "Oof! Sorry. What's up?" Peeking over Blake's shoulder, she saw a metal door that had been pried open; a rusty crowbar lay nearby on the ground, with some chips of rust stuck to the door itself. "Oh."

Removing a hand from her pocket, Blake leaned and reached for the crowbar. Touching it, she felt a similar wave of emotion like she felt on the brick wall. Jerking away, Yang once again caught her partner. "Yup," Blake said as her vision returned. "Our witch was down here. Very recently." Quickly relaying the info to Ren, he replied that he was on his way with Ruby.

The two girls, however, opted not to wait for the rendezvous. Entering through the door that had been forced open. Inside, waiting for them, was a long, dark corridor with dim, fluorescent lights barely lighting the way. They looked as though they had been left on for many years, and many of them had blown or shattered. "Looks like they _did_ build the tunnels," Yang commented.

Blake drew her Aura gun and took a cautious stance. Whispering, she said, "Keep an eye out; the witch is probably still down here."

"Right," Yang whispered back as she drew her own gun. "So, what's the plan? We gonna split up?"

Blake forced herself not to make some form of sarcastic sound for fear of being too loud. "With _my_ sensitive hands? I'm not going anywhere alone. I might trip and touch the wall to catch myself. Last time that happened I went dark for half an hour."

Yang stared at the ground for a moment before making a "good point" face. "Right behind you," she said quietly. Slowly the two of them crept around the tunnel, stopping at every intersection so Blake could touch something to judge what the witch might have come into contact with. With every intersection, they felt as though they were coming closer to the witch; soon, they knew that they would be face to face with the person that they were hunting.

_"We're in the tunnels,"_ Ren said over the radio. _"Where are you two?"_

"Uh..." Yang said, feeling unsure. In a whisper, she answered, "We're deeper into the tunnels; that's the best I can give you. We're tracking the witch."

_"Okay, we'll begin searching as well. Report in if you find her."_

Blake stopped. "You might want to tell him we found her," she said.

Yang paused and peeked over Blake's shoulder; she was surprised to find a young, green haired woman leaning against the wall, facing away from the two hunters. She was panting heavily, and her right arm was completely limp. "Wh-what..." she started. "What do you people want with me? You...you aren't cops. Cops don't shoot at someone when they've given up."

Yang quickly reported to Ren that they'd found the witch, while Blake sighed heavily. Lowering her gun slightly, she approached the woman. "We're sorry about that, we truly are," she said.

The girl turned to face the two hunters; her face was a mixture of horror and exhaustion. "What did you do...to my body?"

"We have no choice but to shoot you with a, ah, tranquilizer, I guess you'd call it. It suppresses your powers and nullifies your body's movement. I know it hurts, but we're not trying to kill you."

"M-my powers?" Frantic, the woman staggered towards Blake before she fell to her knees. "You know about my powers? You know about what's happening to me?" Crawling, she drew closer and closer to Blake to the point where Blake was beginning to feel somewhat frightened. She tried to back away, but she accidentally bumped into Yang, making her halt. The green haired witch reached and grabbed hold of Blake, clinging tightly. "Please! Help me! Tell me what's going on!"

Reaching once more, her hand found Blake's skin; she was in direct contact with the hunter. Yang watched in horror as she saw Blake's power kick in. The black haired girl's vision went dark, and every emotion that the witch ever felt began to pour through Blake. Unable to stand on her own, she fell to her knees and began to seize violently as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. "Blake!" Yang cried as she watched in horror.

"Wh-what's going on?" the witch asked. "Is...is this my fault? Is this part of my power?"

"Let go of her! Her power isn't meant to be prolonged! Let go of her!" Frantically, she aimed her Aura gun at the witch and was about to pull the trigger.

"Yang, wait!" Ren cried from behind; he and Ruby had finally caught up. "If you shoot her now, she'll just transfer the feeling to Blake!"

"Wh-what?" the witch asked.

"Blake has the power to feel emotion and experiences through direct contact; anything that touches her skin has the potential to trigger it, and skin on skin contact is dangerous for her. If you truly mean no harm, you need to let go of her, now!" he yelled.

As ordered, the witch jerked away from Blake. Now free of the contact, her body began to fall from the kneeling position, until Yang dropped to her own knees and supported Blake as she continued her seizure. "I'm sorry," the witch cried.

Ruby stared at the witch and was prepared to use her power, but Ren simply raised his hand to stop her. "She won't fight now," he said. Holstering his weapon, he approached the witch. "I'm afraid we must take you into custody; you're power has resulted in the deaths of five men."

Nodding and in tears, she stood up. "What happens now?"

"Now," Ren said as he reached into his pocket. "You sleep." Pulling out a syringe, he quickly injected a green liquid into her neck before she could resist; it was Aura. Almost immediately after the Aura entered her system, the witch collapsed. "Jaune," Ren said into his radio. "Tell the police they can end the blockade, and inform Mercury that we need the Factory here; this hunt is over." Turning around, he watched Yang nurse Blake tenderly.

Slowly, her eyes returned to normal, and the seizure passed. Her vision returned lastly, and she looked around the room groggily. "What...what happened?"

Yang was on the verge of tears before she finally answered, "We got the witch."

* * *

That evening, right before everyone's shift was to end and they could go home, Mercury called a meeting in the conference room. Ironwood had already left for the day, and Chief Torchwick and Neo were chatting idly over a cup of coffee in the next room; it was a slow wind down for the end of a taxing work day for everyone.

Blake sat lazily next to Yang, feeling more exhausted than usual. Her usually pale hands were covered by a pair of black leather gloves, courtesy of Yang. Staring at them for a moment, Blake smiled. "Thanks," she said.

"Don't mention it," Yang said, feeling relieved that Blake was okay. "And forget about driving home; I'll take you."

Blake felt the urge to vomit rise in her stomach. "I am _not_ riding that motorcycle home, thank you very much."

Yang sighed. "Then, I guess I'll just leave it here until tomorrow; I'll drive _your_ car, how about that? Of course, there is the downside that I'll have to stay the night at your place tonight if I do that."

Blake pondered that for a moment before she smiled. "I guess I can live with that."

At that moment, Mercury entered at long last, being the final person to come into the conference room. "Sorry about the wait, I was busy compiling the information we got back from the Factory about today's hunt." Everyone nodded and watched as he connected his laptop to the hologram displays. Each person had a driver's license appear before them, with a myriad of personal information; the photo on the license seemed to be from a happier time, with a genuine smile on the girl's face. "Our witch today was Emerald Sustrai; twenty-years-old. She had no home, no employment, no vehicle, and this license has been expired for the last year. Two years ago she lived in an upper middle class part of town and had a decent internship at a nearby office building." Ruby wasn't completely sure of it, but it appeared to her that Mercury looked sad.

"There's no way to tell what exactly happened to her two years ago, but things went downhill pretty fast for her. According to the Factory, she's been living off of the streets, stealing any amount of money she could just to buy food for herself, and occasionally clothes to wear. It's likely that her power only awakened because of the stress that she was put under by the first three victims."

"That's so sad," Blake said. "I felt everything she's ever felt, but the strongest emotion I felt from her was despair. If only she could have continued her normal life, she probably would have never awakened."

"Does she have any family?" Ren asked.

"None. She was orphaned at a young age when her parents died in a car accident, and she has no siblings or other living family. I did, however, do what you suggested, Ren. I traced her family line as far back as I possibly could." He stared grimly at his computer screen before pressing a button to reveal a family tree.

Ren looked shocked. "No way..."

"Yes. Just as you suspected; she's the last in a line of descendants that date back to the hunts of 1698. I've tried to follow the other branches of the family line; it seems that she was , in fact, the sole survivor of the entire family line. Not a single distant relative is left."

Ruby understood what this meant. The part of her that was a hunter felt glad, but the part of her that was a craft user felt sad. "There will never be another witch that will have that power again."

Everyone stared in wonder at the family tree before Mercury opened his mouth once more. "I...I actually knew her from before Beacon."

"What?" Jaune said, shocked.

"I was also interning at that office," he said. "We got along great back then, and we worked well together on our job. One day she vanished without a trace, and no one in the office knew what had happened to her. I guess...I guess now I sort of know." Standing up, he closed his laptop and turned off the hologram displays. "Well, good work today, guys. See you tomorrow." He left the room, returned his laptop to his desk, and he laid down on a nearby couch.

The others slowly poured out of the conference room and began to make their way out of the building. Ruby paused and observed Mercury. "Isn't he going home?"

"No," Yang said as she walked buy with Blake. "You see, he's also homeless. He lives here at the office." She paused. "I...I think he needs some time alone right now, as well. He's realized just how similar of a situation he's in compared to that Emerald girl. I think today's hunt has hit him pretty hard." Patting Ruby on the shoulder, she continued on to catch up with Blake. "Go home and get some rest, Ruby. See you tomorrow."

Ruby stole one final glance at Mercury, feeling afraid to leave him alone. She was about to go to him until she saw Neo approach him with a tray. Setting it down, Ruby saw that the tray contained a simple meal of pasta noodles and sauce, a soda can, and a mug of coffee. Barely able to hear her, Ruby heard Neo say, "Take care of yourself, Mercury, okay?" Bowing politely to him, she put on her coat and made her exit from the building as well. Mercury didn't say thank you, and he continued to lay still for a minute or two before he finally raised up and started eating the food.

Ruby watched him silently until he finished his meal. He grabbed the coffee mug and stood up with a slight stretch, and made his way to his desk. He paused when he saw Ruby still standing there. "Ruby?" he asked curiously.

Ruby nodded. "If you'd like, I could bring you some breakfast from the Malachite Cafe tomorrow."

Mercury was dumbfounded for a moment before a smile crept onto his lips. "I'd like that," he said.

Smiling back, Ruby waved goodbye and made her way outside where she waited for a taxi to take her to her apartment. Though they considered themselves a small team, Ruby saw the Beacon hunters as a rather large group; larger than she was used to hunting with. She felt that she was going to enjoy getting to know each and every single one of them.

* * *

_Song: Without-Soundwitch_

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

I'm sorry this is late! Like, super late! I planned to release this Friday! In fact, because I'm calling them "episodes", I'm trying to release them every Friday until I finish. Which, by the way, I don't really know how long it will be. I have a chapter list that I'm working with that I've split in half, so it could be between 13 and 26 chapters...er, episodes.

Anyway, what do you guys think so far? I'm trying my best here to keep from breaking character too much, and I seem to be having trouble with Ren. I don't know why I decided to have him written as a lead character in this setting. I mean, I like Ren, and he _is_ fun to write for, but I never expected to write him quite like this...so, to me, its interesting and challenging. I made sure to express how dangerous Blake's craft is, or at least I hope I succeeded in doing that.

Also, I didn't initially plan on it, but I think I will be doing some shipping here. The USS Bumblebee seems to have set sail, and we may yet see the USS REDACTED...oh, wait, one or two of those characters haven't been shown yet. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait! ;D

As with The Longest Night, and recently with A Rose by Any Other Name, I am _really_ enjoying the chance to flesh out the characters in new ways that I haven't seen here very often.

Please, leave a review telling me what you think. I like feedback, as I take it very seriously and try to adjust my writing to fix problems and such when they are pointed out. Trust me, you will not offend me. :D

Till next time!

Fun fact: It's 3:05 AM as I finish writing this. Why am I an insomniac! God, please, LET ME SLEEP!


	4. Episode 4: Enjoy the Silence

_Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the coven sank in the dark. Lightning; echoing thunder. Flashes of light that melt the flesh and the bone._

The streets of Vale were welcoming enough in the light of day. Once night fell, however, the smartest of Vale's citizens either stuck with the denser areas of Vale, or simply stayed home. Towards the center of town, away from prying eyes, two men stood in a dark alley. The first man simply leaned casually against the brick wall as though he stood here all the time. The other man slowly approached the first man, his hands shaking as tremors occasionally rocked his body. His face was gaunt, and his hair was thin; the signs of a drug addict. Above them, barely lighting the alleyway, was a string of dim light bulbs.

He looked up from the ground at the man against the wall. The man turned and met his gaze before looking away, staring now at nothing. "You got money?" he asked calmly.

"Y-yeah," the junkie said. "Took me a while, but I got enough."

The man, a drug dealer, smiled. "You know...this stuffs getting more and more expensive by the day, right? VPD's been cracking down on the labs. I used to get my product out of ten different places, but now I'm down to three sources. You sure you want to keep doing it? Before too long, even I won't be able to get a hold of any."

"I get that," the junkie stated flatly. He looked around nervously before shoving his shaky left hand into his pocket, pulling out three hundred lien and offering it to the dealer. "I-I need it, man. I gotta have a fix."

The dealer shrugged. "Aight, man. Don't say I didn't warn you." Taking the money, he reached into a bag that was laying next to his feet and pulled out a small sandwich bag full of multicolored crystal like fragments. Handing the bag off, he gave the druggy a warning glance. "Make that batch last, okay? I'll give the VPD a week before they knock down the rest of my suppliers, and that means it will be some time before you can get another fix."

"What would I do without you?" he asked. Without hesitating, he pulled one of the fragments out of the bag and shoved it into his mouth. A few seconds passed, and the short, sudden tremors left his body, and his hands stopped shaking.

The dealer laughed. "You'd probably go cold turkey without me," he said. "I'm the nicest guy you know, I'll bet."

The junkie nodded. "You have no idea. Thanks again." He turned on his heel and began to make his exit.

"Hey, remember to make it last!" the dealer yelled after him. Shaking his head, he returned to leaning against the wall. He didn't have much stock left, but if he knew Vale's citizens like he thought he did, he wouldn't have much trouble selling it. Sure enough, someone else came strolling down the alley a few minutes later.

This one was new; the dealer had never seen him before. His clothes were clean and neat, and he wore his blue hair in a wild, punkish style. If the dealer had to guess, he was some rich man's son who was looking to try drugs for the first time; there was no way that he was a regular user. The young man leaned on the wall opposite from the dealer, and the two stared at each other. "You...you have what I'm looking for."

"Perhaps," the dealer said, misunderstanding the young man's statement as a question. "Depends on what you're looking for. Do you want fragments or whole crystals?"

"Neither," the young man said.

The dealer was caught off guard. "Neither?" he repeated. "Well, if you're looking for something more exotic, I'm afraid I don't have any of the sort. I _do_ know a guy that can hook you up with just about anything else, though. Want me to point you in his direction?"

The young man laughed. "Why would a drug dealer recommend _another_ drug dealer?"

"I just like to see the customer happy, is all. So, what are you looking for?"

The young man paused in thought for a moment. "Well, I don't suppose you'd let me have _you_, would you?"

The dealer gave him a stern look. "Now look here, son, I may be a drug dealer and one of the lowest of the low, but what makes you think that I'd sell my body?"

"That's fine," the young man said. "I wasn't offering to buy it anyway." The drug dealer was surprised by the sound of glass breaking. Looking up, he saw that several of the light bulbs had shattered. The few that didn't break were glowing brighter than before. "I'm just going to take it."

* * *

~Witch Hunter Ruby~

Episode 4: Enjoy The Silence

Ruby was awakened by the sound of her work cell phone ringing on the night stand next to her bed. Groaning, she raised up and grabbed the phone, blindly pressing the answer button. "Hello?" she greeted in a hoarse voice.

_"Sorry to wake you so early_," Mercury stated on the other end. _"We've got a crime scene. Blake and Yang are on their way to pick you up."_

Ruby nodded to herself, accepting the fact that her work day was going to be exhausting. "Okay. I guess I'll get ready," she said right before she yawned loudly.

_"It's 4AM right now. Blake should be there around 4:30."_ Without saying anything else, Mercury hung up.

Ruby gave her phone a final passing glance before she glanced at her alarm clock; it was programmed to wake her at 7:30. She had thirty minutes to prepare for work. _Maybe I'll wear simpler clothes today,_ she thought as her gaze passed over her black dress that hung on the wall. Nodding, she collapsed back onto the bed for five more minutes.

Ruby, now fully awake and wearing a pair of black trousers, a white dress shirt, a red tie, and a black vest, approached the taped off alleyway with Blake and Yang walking ahead of her. Three patrol cars from the Vale Police Department were present, most of the officers themselves looked just as sleepy as Ruby was.

As she passed by, she overheard two officers chatting amongst each other. "Is that Beacon? I thought we were waiting on the detective," one said.

"You didn't hear? We're turning this one over. It's officially a Beacon case," replied the other.

"Was the corpse that odd? I didn't see it."

"Yeah. It looked like it'd been set on fire or something."

Yang lifted the police tape up for her fellow hunters to pass under. "Ladies first," she said to Blake with a smile. She and Ruby followed shortly after Blake entered, and the three of them were alone in this dark alley, barely lit by the early morning sunrise. In the middle of the alley, laying face down, was a blackened, charred corpse. "Oh," Yang said, dropping into sarcasm. "That's lovely."

Blake and Ruby approached and knelt on the ground to get a better look. Ruby paused, having noticed that Yang was hanging back. "Aren't you going to examine the body?"

"You know what," Yang replied. "I think you two got this. I'll just be over here...near this dumpster...trying not to puke."

Ruby arched an eyebrow before Blake looked at her with a small smile. "She doesn't have a very strong stomach when it comes to corpses."

"I see," Ruby said quietly. Turning her full attention to the corpse, she and Blake began to take notes as they examined it.

"Looks like it was set on fire," the black haired hunter said.

"It looks that way," Ruby agreed. "But look at the charring. Even I can't produce a flame hot enough to melt flesh like this."

Blake nodded. "You're right. What could produce that much heat if not a fire? Napalm is a solid guess, but we'd see traces of gasoline."

Ruby noticed a plastic bag next to the wall. Grabbing it, she rummaged through it to see what was inside. "What's this?" she asked, holding up a couple of sandwich bags full of multicolored crystals and shards.

Blake gave it one glance before she retrieved it from Ruby to get a closer look. "Dust," she said after a moment. "That's no surprise, I guess; our victim was a drug dealer."

"You think that's why he was killed?"

"Doubt it," Yang called from her safe distance. "Who murders a drug dealer and leaves the drugs?"

"Someone who's not looking for drugs," Ruby said. Standing up, she heard a cracking sound come from beneath her shoe. Looking down, she saw the ground was covered in shards of glass. "Where did that come from?" Slowly she raised her gaze upward until she saw a string of lights; most of them were broken.

Blake followed her gaze, also having noticed the broken glass. "Probably unrelated. The bulbs had probably been busted for months. No one really maintains these alley lights." Sighing, she crouched back down and called for Yang. "Can you control your gag reflex long enough to keep me from hitting the pavement?"

Yang flinched. "Do you really _need_ to do that now? Besides, I might throw up on you."

Blake shook her head. "Wimp. Ruby, could you do me a favor? Keep me from collapsing, okay?"

"Uh...okay." Moving behind Blake, Ruby positioned her hands so that she gave the black haired girl enough support to keep off of the ground.

Removing her right glove, Blake touched the corpse lightly, trying her best to keep her hand as clean as possible. Her vision went dark as she experienced the man's last emotions. After a few seconds, she drew her hand away, panting heavily. "Confusion. And, before that, he was hopeful. I think he was going to sell to the murderer, and he was turned on without provocation."

"Do you think he knew the killer?" Yang asked.

"I dunno. Probably not, but we can't make that assumption yet." Putting the glove back on her hand, she stood up and began to leave the alley, with Ruby and Yang following. "The Factory should be here by now. Let's turn in our initial report before we head to Beacon."

Ruby nodded as she followed, and she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, can we stop by the Malachite Cafe before we go in?"

"Hm?" Blake asked.

"I have to pick something up."

* * *

The meeting in the conference room was just beginning, and Mercury sat towards the front of the room, as usual, as he ate a bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwich that Ruby had bought for him. After the final bite was swallowed, Ironwood entered the room, surprised to see everyone already present. "What happened last night?" he asked, understanding that there must have been an unusual murder to warrant everyone to be ready to work so early.

"Morning, Boss," Mercury said. "We were just about to begin."

"Oh, I see. Well, let's get started then."

"Right." A driver's license appeared in front of everyone. "Our victim was Aka Rouge, age twenty-six. He worked part time at a gas station during the day shift, and apparently he was a drug trader by night. Most importantly, he was in our database."

Ruby stared at Mercury in confusion. "He was on our database?"

"You see, we here at Beacon have an extensive system of filing, organization, and networks that identify witches and possible witches. We cross reference new information with older documents concerning previously encountered witches, and any time we come back with a positive match on relation, we add that person to our watch list. Basically, we know that these people have a high chance of awakening as witches."

"So, he was a witch's descendant, but he wasn't a witch himself?"

"That's right," Ironwood said. "We usually ignore the possible witches unless they fit certain criteria during a hunt. Most of the time, they'll go their whole lives without awakening. It's a precautionary measure to try to speed the hunting process should they ever awaken."

"Aka never awakened," Mercury continued. "And this is a large city; murder is an everyday occurrence, so normally this could be considered a coincidence."

"What about the nature of his death?" Ren asked.

"The Factory's autopsy report came in a few minutes ago. It looks like a large electrical force had stopped his heart; he was dead before his skin started melting from the heat."

"Electricity?" Ruby asked. "I noticed some light bulbs that were broken in the alley. Could they be related?"

"Well, when you put too much electricity into a light bulb, the results can be explosive. It's not out of the question to think that whatever killed the victim contained enough voltage to blow out nearby lights."

"So our witch has the power to control electricity?" Yang asked. "That's shocking."

Blake elbowed Yang in the ribs swiftly. "Not now," she whispered.

"Do we have anyone on our list that has this power?" Ren asked.

"We have a few possible candidates, but it might take some time to locate them," Mercury said.

"Then I guess we should get started."

"If I'm not needed," Yang said. "I'll go on home. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"I wonder who's fault that is," Jaune said teasingly glancing between Blake and Yang.

Yang smiled, giving Jaune the thumbs up. "You know it!"

Blake rolled her eyes. "Please. Any prolonged direct contact and I'll go into convulsions. Yang slept on my couch."

"Oh, I'll send you into convulsions alright," Yang whispered with a sly smile on her lips.

"I heard that, you pervert."

"S-sorry."

Blake sighed. "Today's going to be a really long day,"

Ironwood smiled. "Good luck, everyone, and work hard."

As everyone stood up and prepared to leave, either to start investigating or to go home, the hologram display turned a bright red and began to flash warning signals. "What does that mean?" Ruby asked, feeling somewhat worried.

Mercury cursed as he forced everyone in front of him aside, racing towards his desk. Everyone else followed behind him as he started typing away hurriedly on his keyboards. "Son of a bitch!" he yelled.

"Mercury, what's going on?" Ironwood asked.

"We've got a hacker!"

"A hacker?" Ruby asked.

"Someone's trying to break into Beacon's secure network." A moment passed before Mercury's jaw dropped. "They're in!"

"What are they trying to do?" Ren asked.

"I can't tell. They've opened hundreds of files, and there's no way to tell which ones they're actually looking at, and which ones are being used as decoys." Quickly, Mercury began typing some sort of code. "Well, if he's gonna hack, then I'll just have to kick him out myself." After a few minutes, the red warning lights dimmed and returned to their native blue color on the holograms in the conference room. "He's...he's gone?"

"Did you evict him?"

"No," Mercury said in disbelief. "He just logged out on his own."

"Can you trace it?" Ren asked.

"Things were so hectic that I lost it trying to keep him out. Maybe if he hacks again I can find him, but as it stands? No."

"Any idea what he's after?"

"What was the last file he opened?" Ironwood asked.

"That's odd," Mercury said as he browsed the files. "The last file he touched was a dossier."

"A dossier?"

"Yeah." Pulling up the file, a driver's license appeared. "Adam Taurus," Mercury read aloud. "He's on our potential witch list."

"Find him," Ren told Mercury. "I'm going to pay Mr. Taurus a visit."

* * *

Adam sat in his apartment, drinking slowly from a bottle of beer while he watched an MMA fight on the television. Today was his day off from work, and while this wasn't what he'd prefer to do on his vacation day, it was much better than working. He didn't really recognize either of the fighters on the screen, as he usually watched baseball, but since it was on today he figured he'd watch some of it. _Hell, I might just become a fan_, he thought to himself as a knockout punch was thrown. Nodding with a slight smile, he sipped lightly at his beer before he heard his doorbell ring.

Not knowing who could possibly be paying him a visit today, he shrugged as he set his beer on the living room table. Standing up and stretching any stiffness out of his legs, he made his way to the door. "Hello?" he asked as he swung it open.

A young man, clearly younger than Adam, stood before him. His clothes were neat, and his hair was a shocking, electric blue. The young man had goggles around his neck. "Are you Adam Taurus?" he asked.

Adam nodded. "Can I help you with something?"

The fluorescent lights in the hallway flickered, and the one behind the young man flashed quickly before it shattered. "As a matter of fact..."

* * *

Ren and Jaune stood in the elevator, waiting patiently as it rose higher and higher into the apartment complex, working their way to the seventh floor.. "Why would a hacker be looking for witches?"

Ren shook his head. "Maybe they know about witches and hold some sort of vendetta against them. Maybe he's a former hunter acting as a vigilante. Maybe it's a spy from Headquarters. There are any number of possibilities."

Jaune turned to Ren in shock. "Why would Headquarters send a spy?"

"You've never met the higher ups before, have you?"

"Aside from the Boss, no,"

Ren smiled. "Maybe you should. It'd be a learning experience." The elevator came to a halt, and a low _ding_ rang as the doors opened. "We're looking for room 715," Ren stated as they exited.

The two men walked slowly down the hall, carefully reading off the numbers on each door. "705...707...709..." Jaune read to himself in a low voice.

Halfway down the corridor a door opened slowly; a blue haired youth exited. Noticing the two hunters he paused. Ren looked at the doors immediately around himself, figuring in his head which door the young man had come from. "He's come out of Taurus's apartment," he whispered to Jaune.

Instantly, the young man seemed agitated. Not wanting to fight, he turned and ran down the hall. "Hey!" Jaune called after him as he and Ren gave chase.

"Piss off!" the young man called, pausing to raise his hand. A bolt of lightning shot from his palm, rocketing towards Ren. Instinctively, Ren stopped running and stood still, knowing he didn't have the time to dodge. The Aura pendant around his neck glowed a bright green, and the electricity cracked and sparked all around his body, inches away from electrifying him. Irritated that his power was stopped, the young man cursed and continued to flee into the stairwell.

"Go!" Ren yelled to Jaune, who hesitated when Ren was forced to stop; the electricity still danced around him. "Lead him to the others! Blake and Ruby are waiting outside!"

Nodding, Jaune drew his Aura gun and gave chase. Taking a left into the stair well, he followed the sounds of the witches dashing feet and the sound of heavy metal doors being forced open. Said doors lead to the apartments on the fifth floor, two stories down from where he started running. Entering the hallway, he saw the witch standing at the far end of the hall; no stair well was available. "Mercury, have the apartment turn off the elevators; we have the witch cornered," Jaune said into his radio as he slowly approached the witch. Within minutes, the elevator lights all turned red. "You've got nowhere to run!"

The young man looked around for a moment before his gaze stopped on the window behind him. "There's always an escape route," he commented sarcastically to Jaune. Firing off a bolt of electricity to distract Jaune, the witch turned and leapt out of the window.

"No!" Jaune called as the electricity dissipated around him; it was a lower charge than the shot that had been fired at Ren. Dashing to the window, Jaune was shocked to see the witch had grabbed hold of an electrical line and was climbing down a utility pole. Jaune took aim, but noted that the distance and wind variable were too great; he couldn't make the shot with the gas powered Aura guns. "Damn it!"

Minutes later, Ren, Jaune, Ruby, and Blake all stood around Adam's corpse in his apartment. Crime scene tape had been stuck to the door, and the four of them simply stared at the body before them; there was no need to investigate, since they knew what had happened. "Son of a bitch!" Jaune yelled, still angry that another witch escaped him.

"Jaune!" Ren yelled back at him. "Calm yourself. We need to think about this carefully."

"I was right there, Ren! I should have shot the bastard before he had time to jump!"

"What's done is done. We don't expect anyone to be perfect, you had no way to know that he'd be crazy enough to jump from that high."

Ruby stared at the body, confused. "Why?" she asked. "Why is he doing this?"

Ren shook his head. "We should head back to Beacon. We're not going to learn anymore from Mr. Taurus. Mercury, have the police clean this scene up; we're done here."

_"You got it,"_ he replied over the radio.

"And retrieve the security camera footage from the apartment complex; our witch wasn't very good at concealing his face."

* * *

The witch sat alone in his empty apartment, gasping for air. He felt weak; he'd used his power too much without getting anything back in return. Touching the power lines didn't help either. Had he thought to absorb from them he'd have been fine, but in his haste some of his power was drained by the flowing electrical currents that powered the city. Kneeling in fatigue, he glanced around and saw that his television was plugged into the wall and turned on, with the audio muted. Raising his hand, lightning fired from his palm and danced across the screen. A moment later, the television was overloaded and exploded, with another bolt of lightning returning to his hand.

Feeling the electricity flow through his body, he felt his strength slowly returning. But it wasn't enough. "I need more," he said aloud. "More like the dealer. More like that Adam. I need _more_." Maybe it was time to find another like himself again. What did those Beacon guys call them again? Witches. He laughed at the term. He didn't see himself as a witch. No, witches were from fairy tales and fantasy stories. No, he felt that he was something greater; he felt he was destined to surpass all of mankind. "I am a god," he whispered. "And as god, I need tribute. I need more power." He stood up, preparing to find his next energy source.

"Have you found anything?" Ren asked as soon as he entered the room. All of the computers were turned off except for Mercury's three separate terminals and his laptop, each of which had a different task running. His right screen was playing the security camera footage.

"Yeah, he's showing his face alright," he said with a smile. Jaune was still somewhat miffed, and he threw himself onto the nearby couch, throwing his legs onto the coffee table in an attempt to relax himself. "Hey, I eat on that table," Mercury chimed.

"Where _don't_ you eat around here? Bite me!" Jaune retaliated.

Jaune was about to close his eyes for a moment, still trying to calm himself, when he saw Neo out of his peripheral vision. She approached with a small tray and set it on the table next to his boots; it was a cup of hot tea and a small cake. "I heard about what happened. I hope this helps a little bit," she said with a smile before turning around and returning to her work.

"Uh...thanks," Jaune said. Removing his feet from the table, he sipped at the tea and ate the cake. Slowly, his mood began to improve.

Mercury shook his head before returning his attention to the others. "I cross referenced the witch's face with our database and city records. Guess what?"

"He's on our list?" Ruby asked, feeling hopeful.

"Yep! Neptune Vasilias, age seventeen. He's a high school drop out with above average intelligence, he came from a wealthy family originally, but he lives by himself in a high end apartment. Shame he awakened; his test scores from high school are better than what mine were!"

"Don't nerd out on us," Blake said jokingly.

"I'm just saying; the kid could have gotten into any college in the country if he wanted to. Either he didn't like school or his awakened powers put a damper on it all."

"We have his address?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, but it's no use. I checked with his landlord; he's not been there in months. I do have a plan to find him, though."

"How so?" Ruby asked.

"I doubt it's a coincidence that our hacker pulled up Adam Taurus's dossier and Neptune killed him afterwards. That, coupled with his apparent intelligence, he's most likely the hacker."

"What do you suggest?" Blake asked.

"The next time he hacks us, and I'm almost positive he will, we let him in. We guide him to the information he wants, then we trap him; make it so he can't log out. We trace it to his hideout, and we capture him. I've already run it by the Boss, and I even showed him the footage from the apartment complex. He's got the Factory rushing over some new Aura bullets to try and counter Neptune's electricity more efficiently."

"How long will this take?"

Mercury shrugged. "The only thing we can do is wait now. He may not try again for a few hours, or maybe even a few days."

Ren nodded. "Call Yang back," he said. "No one's going home. We're going to stay on call and wait for him to make his move."

Blake nodded. "I guess I'll get her." Walking away, she pulled out her phone and called the blonde.

Mercury looked at Ruby. "There's a bunk room on the second floor where I sleep; there's enough beds for everyone, so feel free to rest there."

"Oh," Ruby started. "Thanks."

The sound of Neo standing drew everyone's attention. "I suppose I'll stay as well," she said with a gentle smile. "God knows you Hunters won't eat healthy without someone to take care of you. I'll go prepare everyone something to eat."

Mercury shook his head with a smile. "That woman spoils us."

Ren chuckled softly. "She spoils _you_, you mean. She rarely gets the opportunity to feed the rest of us."

Jaune finished his tea and stretched. "I don't mind. If it means I get paid overtime _and_ I get one of Neo's home cooked meals out of it, I'll stay as long as it takes. Plus, catching this witch is going to be oh so satisfying." The hunters were all taking seats and relaxing, knowing that they might be waiting a very long time.

* * *

Ruby woke up in the middle of the night in the bunk room. She never shared a room with so many people before, so the experience was rather interesting to her. Glancing around, she noticed all of her fellow hunters were sleeping still. Ren looked stoic as he slept flat on his back, Jaune was sprawled out on his stomach, Blake was curled into a ball, and Yang's limbs were all over the place; to Ruby, it seemed comical. Even Neo was sleeping in the office, just as she said she would. But Ruby noticed that someone was missing. _Where's Mercury?_ she thought.

Standing up, she made her way up the third floor to see if he was still working; sure enough, he was glued to his monitors, still typing away. Pausing, he glanced up at the sight of Ruby entering the dark room, lit only by his computer screen. He smiled, almost teasingly so, at the younger girl. "Shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked.

"I could say the same to you," she shot back calmly. "Why are you still up?"

"Someone needs to monitor the network to see if he tries to hack it again. Since I'm the only one who knows how to trap him, I have to be the one to monitor him. Anyone else would be too slow."

Ruby nodded. "Want me to get you some coffee?"

"Already got some," he replied, holding up a mug for her to see before sipping at it. Ruby smiled and approached him, taking a seat next to him. He set his mug down and sighed, staring into the screen in thought. "I was a hacker once."

"Huh?"

He nodded. "I wouldn't do anything harmful to the system, mind you. I never stole information or tried to break the foundation of whatever I managed to break into. I just liked to prove that I could gain access to it. One day, however, I found a system that I couldn't get into. I tried and tried and tried but nothing I did worked. The security placed on that system's network was too strong."

"It was Beacon, wasn't it?"

"Yep. That was back when I interned at that company. I worked IT for the Schnee Corporation." Pausing, he took a sip from his coffee. "Suddenly, barely a few hours after I tried to hack into Beacon, my apartment was raided. They were going to kill me right there, afraid that I was an enemy. Boss was there too, and his word saved me. It's because of him that I'm still alive."

"I thought Beacon didn't kill," Ruby stated.

"This was back when Headquarters had a stronger grasp on Beacon. Aura wasn't developed until a year ago. After that incident, I swore to work for Ironwood. I was one of the first to work for the 'new' team. Ren and Nora were already here, and Blake showed up a little after me. Six months later, Aura was developed. By then, Jaune and Yang had joined the team, along with the Chief and Neo." He stretched. "Headquarters hasn't been too happy about our near independence as a witch hunting organization, but the way I see it we're all doing the same job."

_Beep_. A red icon appeared on Mercury's computer screen. "Got him!" he yelled. "He's trying to hack into the system."

"So now what?"

"I'm going to show him what he wants, and lock him in!" He began to type faster than Ruby had ever thought possible. "Try to hide now, you son of a bitch!" He turned and faced Ruby. "Wake the others. It's time to hunt." As Ruby nodded and made her way to the elevator, she could hear Mercury mumble something; it was likely an insult directed at the witch.

* * *

Neptune paced impatiently back and forth in front of his computer; it was frozen. It was a brand new, top of the line computer, and he had taken very good care of it; this wasn't a crash or a virus. He knew that this Beacon organization had figured him out; whoever they were, they'd probably be sending a SWAT team to raid his current home any time now.

_What even is Beacon?_ he asked himself mentally. He knew about witches, since he himself was one, and he had listened very carefully to the city's underground of rogues and undesirables; there were other witches. Some of them knew about Beacon, claiming that the organization kept an eye on witches. That's how he first discovered them. His growing power was voracious, and required energy to feed it and make it grow stronger, but the energy of a witch, awakened or otherwise, was the best he'd ever had.

And he sought Beacon's list in an attempt to satiate his power's endless hunger for energy.

He smiled, thinking back to the fact that a SWAT team was probably on its way. They wouldn't be witches, presumably, but energy was energy when he absolutely needed it. They'd make a fine feast. Turning to face his computer, he made a tough decision; it was useless to him now. Quickly extracting all of the electricity that it contained, he heard a car door slam from outside. Peeking from his window, he saw the same men that had charged him earlier. "Oh," he said. "_They_ were Beacon." Three more appeared from another car, and Neptune smiled. He felt a stronger energy from two of them, and he was going to absorb it. Placing his hands on the window sill, he prepared himself.

* * *

"Keep an eye out," Ren said in a hushed voice. "He's in this abandoned building." Everyone nodded and drew their weapons, except for Ruby who simply scanned the area with her eyes, preparing to strike a flame wherever necessary.

A sudden flash of light caught their attention, and the five hunters dashed out of the way of a sudden bolt of lightning that struck before them. A quiet roll of thunder washed over them, and Neptune leapt from his window and into the driveway before them. "Good night to you, friends," he said, sounding like he was going mad.

"Neptune!" Jaune yelled as he steadied his aim. Aiming at the gun, Neptune shot a bolt of lightning, intending to destroy the weapon. Jaune reflexively pulled the trigger, sending an Aura bullet flying towards the electricity. The aura bullet proceeded unimpeded, stopping the lightning in the process, but it missed its target and shattered upon the brick wall behind Neptune.

Neptune was shocked, but became enraged. "How did you do that, you bastard?" He glared at Jaune steadily. "I don't sense any power from you. No, wait, I do...its low, barely a flutter in your body...you haven't awakened yet." He smiled. "However little it is, I _want_ it!" He prepared another charge of lighting. A wall of flame erupted in front of him, making him pause. "What!?"

Ruby stepped forward. "Shoot him!" she yelled before she covered her eyes with her hand in pain; something was wrong.

The flames didn't falter, though, and the other four hunters all began to fire their weapons through the flame. The Aura bullets parted the flames and made contact with Neptune; he screamed. "Enough!" he yelled. He saw Ruby through the flames and began to fire another bolt of lightning at her. Opening her pained eyes, she saw through slightly blurry vision that he was about to attack. Without saying a word, she forced her eyes to focus and she centered the witch, lighting his shirt on fire. He screamed in agony, trying to put the fire out.

Quickly, the others shot him with more Aura to knock him unconscious before they rushed over to put the fire out. Ruby's vision once again became blurry, and she watched from a distance as the obscure forms of her team mates worked and called the Factory. Ren and Yang approached her slowly once they knew the Factory was on its way. "What's wrong?" Ren asked.

"My eyes," she whispered. A moment later, her vision returned to normal. "My vision became worse when I used my power."

"Your eyes are the focus point of your power, are they not?" Ruby nodded in response. "We'll need to get that fixed." As the five of them stood there, the Factory's van approached, and three men wearing what looked like hazmat suits jumped out to secure the witch.

* * *

The next morning, Weiss walked into the Schnee Corporation's office building. She was known for being a shrewd business woman, and ruthless in corporate negotiations, but she was friendly enough to her own workers that she was immensely popular within the company; many looked forward to the day that the entire company would work for her, and not just the Vale branch.

She greeted the security guard's with a friendly 'good morning' as she entered the elevator to go upstairs. Arriving onto her floor, she was about to call out 'good morning' to everyone in the room, but then she noticed that everyone was crowded around a single cubicle. She approached from behind, curious to see what the deal was. "What's going on?" she asked.

Everyone turned to face her, each with a solemn look on their faces. One of them, a young lady named Velvet, approached her. "Ms. Schnee...haven't you heard the news yet?"

"What news?"

"It's Adam, Miss. He was found murdered in his apartment yesterday."

Weiss was shocked beyond belief. Why hasn't the news talked about this?"

"We received a notification from the investigative office that found him this morning; they say they've already solved the case, and that they're sorry for our loss. I believe they were called Beacon" Velvet turned to face the others before she stared at the empty cubicle. "We all thought we should pay our respects."

Weiss nodded. "Was anyone here close with Mr. Taurus?" A few raised their hands. "I want you guys to go home and take the day off. Everyone else, work until noon. Someone tell the caretaker to drop the company flag to half mast outside."

Turning to go into her office, she closed the door and sat at her desk, staring at the computer. She felt saddened by Adam's death, but something Velvet said intrigued her. With that errant thought going rampant, she looked up Beacon and found their address.

* * *

_Song: Enjoy the Silence - Lacuna Coil_

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Well, this is a week late. Sorry about that. I meant to have this up and ready by last Friday. Oops. This is why I suck at schedules. So, what do you think so far? I found it somewhat difficult to tie up the hunt for Neptune, but I think I did okay. Also...dat Weiss. Weiss is here, guys! I have things planned for her!

This is the longest chapter so far, and the more of this I write the more it looks like the story will be shorter than I expected; probably 13 or so chapters total. Maybe. Also, I thought it'd be somewhat funny (dark funny) to make Dust a Meth-like drug in this story. Not that it'll be mentioned very much, but I like my subtle, tiny world building details.

Please leave a review, if you don't mind. :D I will _try_ to work somewhat faster for the next chapter. I think it's because these chapters are longer than what I'm used to writing. Possibly. Maybe. Anyway!

FunFact: My on January 21, 2015 my grandmother had brain surgery. She'd had some nerve issues for several years, and a month ago we found out that this surgery would most likely fix it, so we talked her into having it. We were at the hospital from 6AM to about 6PM (roughly), and the Surgery itself lasted for about 5-6 hours. Everything went smoothly, but because she currently has a hole in her skull they've got to keep her in ICU for a few days to let it heal and prevent any sort of infection. She'll most likely go home this weekend. I don't know if this fact was fun...but it sure is interesting! I did get to see her before I left; she was drugged up, so we didn't talk long.

Anyway, till next time!


	5. Episode 5: Fifth

_Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the coven sank in the dark. Beauty; bountiful perfection. Strength of the soul rises, striving forward to better itself._

* * *

The Factory workers loaded up the Sarcophagus, the device that restrained a witch upon capture, into the back of the high tech van before driving away; Ruby, Jaune, and Ren all stood in the street watching it leave. _"Another successful hunt,"_ Mercury said through their headsets.

It had been three days since they had captured Neptune, and they had just now completed the next hunt that had popped up after him. The sun was rising gently over the horizon; they ambushed the witch in the early hours of the morning; Ruby thus felt exhausted. That being said, she still had a full work day ahead of her. "Does everyone in Vale work this hard?" she asked Jaune.

He laughed in response. "What, does nobody wake up in the morning to go to work back in Signal?"

"I...I don't actually know. I never really interacted with anyone outside of the Signal branch, and as a hunter I was only called when there was a confirmed witch sighting."

"Sounds dull. Live a little now that you live in Vale. There's plenty to do here, I can promise you that."

Ren stepped between the two and placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Good work," he said, intentionally changing the topic. "Jaune, go ahead and get back to Beacon. Ruby and I have somewhere to be."

"Oh?" Jaune said inquisitively. Looking between the two of them, he simply shrugged. "See you at the office, I guess." Turning on his heal, he made his way to his car that was parked nearby.

Ruby looked up to Ren curiously. "Where are we going?"

He turned and smiled. At first this was surprising, because Ren rarely smiled at Ruby, but she quickly caught on that this was some sort teasing smile, like he was making mental jokes about her. "I set up an appointment with an eye doctor for you. Your aim has gotten worse the last couple of days, and I don't want you to accidentally set the rest of us on fire."

She blinked at him with a blank stare. "Won't the Aura protect you from my craft?"

Frowning once again, Ren realized that his argument had fallen apart. "Just get in the car."

* * *

~Witch Hunter Ruby~

Episode 5: Fifth

Peter Port sat at the front desk, just inside the main gate to Beacon, keeping an eye on the entrance as per usual. This, of course, meant that because there was always so little activity in front of Beacon that he could freely read his magazines and newspapers in peace without being disturbed. For a retired hunter, he didn't see this as a downgrade. In fact, he saw it as the ultimate vacation; he was able to rest as much as he wanted and he was getting paid to do nothing. It was with these thoughts that he simply shrugged before turning the page of his magazine, prepared to read the latest celebrity scandal. No one, not even he could really explain why he enjoyed these types of magazines, but everyone needs a hobby.

The sound of a taxi stopping nearby made him pause, but then he remembered that the Malachite Cafe was basically across the street; it was probably someone picking up some breakfast. That belief was shattered when there came a sudden rattling noise at the gate, giving him a start. Looking up from his magazine, he saw a beautiful young woman with snow white hair. "Sorry," she said with a polite smile. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Port set the magazine down before returning her polite smile. "Not at all, miss. How can I help you?"

"This is Beacon, correct?" Port nodded in assurance. "I was wondering if I could maybe come inside and pay a visit."

"Oh, well, alright, who may I ask are you visiting?"

She shrugged. "I honestly don't know anyone here. You see, someone in my office was murdered a few days ago, and I heard that it was this establishment that solved the case and presumably brought the culprit to justice. I just wanted to express my gratitude."

"I see," Port said with a nod. "Let me give the office a call and see what they think." He reached for the phone, but it suddenly rang to his surprise. Tilting his head in confusion for a moment, he picked up the phone and greeted whomever was calling.

_"Let her in,"_ came the voice of Ironwood. Before Port could voice an answer, the line went dead; he'd hung up. Port glanced through his window and saw Ironwood standing in his office on the fourth floor, nodding his assurance to Port.

He approached the gate and unlocked it."Well, Boss said you can come in." He lead her to the actual door, where he swiped his employee card to unlock it. "If you're looking for the ones who, ah, worked the case, you'll find them on the third floor."

The girl bowed politely and smiled as she entered the building. "Thank you."

Jaune had already arrived, having entered from the garage entrance where he parked his car, and was crowding around Mercury and Blake, who seemed to be in a discussion about the next case; Yang was nowhere to be seen, and was likely late again. "You really think he did it?" Mercury asked. "I mean, he's got an unsavory reputation, but even with his name being in our database there's no _real_ connection between him and the scene of the crime."

"He's a witch," Blake said dryly. "When there _is_ a connection, it's a godsend. Most of the time we don't even know who our suspect is. This time the police say they think they know who did it, and you want to _not_ investigate him?"

"Now, I didn't say that," Mercury defended himself.

Neo approached Jaune with a coffee mug. "Thirsty?" she whispered, not wanted to disturb the argument before them. Jaune nodded and accepted the coffee, taking a subtle sip from it; he was going to enjoy this conflict. Blake getting into a heated discussion about anything rarely ever happened, and he wasn't going to miss it for the world.

"All I meant is that according to the evidence presented, he wouldn't have any connection to the crime at all."

Blake groaned. "Look at their _backgrounds_. He knew the victim, they didn't get along, and they were always trying to beat each other at everything they did; he has _motive_."

Jaune took another sip from his coffee before he cleared his throat; he was getting tired of the pronoun game. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but who are we talking about?"

Mercury jerked his thumb towards his computer monitors, one of which displayed a dossier. "Cardin Winchester. He's a professional athlete, and the police have marked him the prime suspect in a recent murder of a rival team member."

"Oh, and they never liked each other?"

"No," Blake and Mercury said together.

Jaune smiled. "Oh. Well, case solved; Cardin did it," he taunted as he sipped from his coffee.

"See?" Blake said.

"What about the fact that he's been out of the country for over a month? Did you think about that?" Mercury added.

"Oh," both Jaune and Blake deflated.

"The only reason, and I do mean the _only_ reason that the police gave us the case is because Cardin is in our database as a possible witch. The victim's cause of death has yet to be determined, but from the initial reports it sounded very ordinary. Hell, I'm halfway convinced that the detective who mailed it to us is biased and wants Cardin to take the fall for the death of his favorite athlete."

Jaune shook his head. "Sports fans; those guys will do _anything_ for their favorite team."

Mercury sighed, clearly feeling stressed. "If I get permission from the boss, I'm going to drop this case for now. There's not enough reason to pursue an investigation on Cardin through us."

"Yeah," Blake said, now feeling down. "Let the police handle it. And if it turns out that Cardin did in fact do it, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to let him go through the court systems."

"He's a pro athlete, right?" Jaune asked. "Wouldn't he just pay his way out of it? Those guys are loaded."

"If that happens, _then_ we'll hunt him. Until then, let's work on a different case," Mercury stated. "With any luck, today will be a slow day anyway. Ren and Ruby should be back soon." As if on cue, the elevator went _ding_ to signal the arrival of someone. "Ah, and that must be them."

It wasn't. A white haired beauty wearing business attire strolled into the office area from the elevators and started to nervously glance around until she spotted Chief Roman sitting at his desk nearby. She seemed to be asking him something, and Jaune leaned into Mercury's ear to whisper, "Please tell me she's one of our superiors from Headquarters, and if so, are they all that good looking?"

Blake giggled. "Sorry, Jaune, just about everyone back at headquarters looks, acts, and is even aged about like Ironwood...except alot more strict. Even the women."

"That sounds frightening," he replied.

"Wait," Mercury said. "Is that who I think that is."

Roman smiled politely and answered the girl's question by pointing at the group of hunters. She nodded a thank you and began to make her way to the hunters and Mercury. She stopped just in front of them and was about to make her greeting when she paused upon seeing Mercury. "Mercury?" she asked. "Is that you?"

He smiled nervously. "Hey, boss. How're you?"

"Boss?" Blake asked.

As if remembering that there were others aaround, the girl quickly shifted her attention to Blake and Jaune. "Oh, I'm sorry, I got sidetracked. My name is Weiss Schnee; I'm in charge of the Vale branch of the Schnee Corporation."

"Wait, wait, _wait_; you're _the_ Weiss Schnee? Don't you guys make some of the best tech in the world?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, we do," she said with a proud smile. "I see you're still using our gear, Mercury, even if you don't work for us anymore." She added that last statement as she gently patted the monitors in front of Mercury.

"What can I say? You're computers are the only ones who can keep up with me," he said, returning her smile. "What brings you here to Beacon? We don't usually admit people who aren't employees inside the building."

"Oh?"

"Uh, not that I'm complaining. It's nice to see you again, boss."

"Oh, I took no offense. I came by because I heard your group is responsible for solving a recent murder case that involved one of my employees."

"We did?" Jaune asked. Blake elbowed him harshly, trying to tell him that he was being rude.

"Adam Taurus worked in my building," Weiss continued. "The other day I arrived at work and found out that he'd passed away; that someone had murdered him." She sighed, clearly still saddened by it all. "I wanted to thank you all for bringing the culprit to justice. Or, at least I assume you did. I didn't find anything about it in the media."

"We keep our cases on the down low," Mercury stated as a matter of fact. "We're a sort of last ditch effort investigative organization. The police only come to us if they have no way to solve a case on their own. As such, we don't get very many cases, but we've solved almost every single one that's been thrown our way in the past year and a half that I've been here."

"So the murderer is facing justice?"

"His murdering days are over, I can promise you that."

"Well, as I said, I wanted to thank you all." She bowed politely. "Unlike my father, I treat my workers with respect and care, and I've always tried to make the workplace somewhere that my employees enjoyed going; the loss of Adam is much like the loss of a family member to me, even though I was his employer." Standing straight, she met each of their gazes. "I want to repay you somehow. What do you think about me maybe buying your office some lunch today?"

"That sounds lovely," came a deep voice from behind. Weiss turned around, and the others looked around her, to see Ironwood stroll into the room. "But it's not necessary. We're just doing our job, Ms. Schnee."

"I'm well aware of that, Mr..."

"Ironwood. James Ironwood. Surely your father has mentioned me before."

Weiss shook her head. "I'm afraid that unless it's a matter of business, my father and I don't talk much. I'm afraid I can't recall you. Sorry."

"Oh. Well, that's a shame. I was one of your father's first investors back in the Eighties. As part of the deal I made with him, he was to supply my organization with computer technology whenever we needed it."

"I didn't know that," Jaune whispered. "Hey, Boss, if that's true then can we upgrade our work phones? The Schnee smart phone is pretty badass."

He smiled. "I'm afraid Mr. Schnee is a little too clever for that. Back then, cell phones weren't very prominent and the Schnee Corporation didn't produce them, so they weren't a part of the deal."

"Knowing my father, you'll never open that up for renegotiation." Weiss shook her head. "Anyway, I know I don't _have_ to buy lunch for Beacon, but I want to."

"Well, Ms. Schnee, if you really insist upon it..."

"I do."

"What do you think, Mercury? Blake?"

Mercury shrugged. "Sounds nice to me."

"I'm okay with it," Blake added.

"How come no one asked me?" Jaune asked, looking around.

"Because your answer to free food is always 'yes'."

"Is yours not?"

Mercury shook his head before returning his attention to Weiss. "We have two more hun...uh, _investigators_, however. Ren and Ruby should be arriving any minute now."

* * *

Ren and Ruby stood in the elevator as the door closed, preparing itself to go to the third floor where the hunters' work stations were at. In Ruby's hands was a delicate pair of eyeglasses; Ren had the spectacles already on order. "The doctor said that you're vision worsens when you use your powers," he said calmly. "You really need to wear those when you use decide to set fire to something."

Ruby frowned. "I feel like I'm being insulted. My vision is perfect."

"Only when you don't use your power," Ren corrected. "I suppose everything has a side effect. Even the Aura does."

Ruby turned and stared at Ren. "Do you think the Aura is the reason you haven't awakened yet?"

Ren frowned. He met Ruby's gaze and stared at her with irritation. "If I have my way with it, I'll never awaken."

"Oh," Ruby uttered. "I guess you really don't like witches." She looked at the floor for a moment before glancing back up at him. "Why?"

"I don't have to answer that." _Ding._ The door opened, and Ren walked at a brisk pace to get away from Ruby.

Ruby shrugged, and decided against asking again. She entered the third floor work area and noticed that everyone, including Ironwood, was crowded around Mercury's desk. They weren't looking at his computer, however. As Ruby got closer, she noticed that there was someone there that she had never seen before; a beautiful, white haired girl stood at the center of the group, chatting happily with Ruby's coworkers. To Ruby, she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

Mercury glanced Ruby's way and waved her over, which Ruby obliged. "I'd like you to meet my former employer," he said. "Ruby, this is Weiss Schnee. She was my boss when I worked at the Vale branch of the Schnee Corporation."

"Pleasure to meet you," Weiss said politely, extending her hand in greeting. Ruby shook it gladly.

"This is our newest employee," Mercury went on as he explained Ruby's position to Weiss. "She's, uh, rather talented to she was hired early; she's fifteen."

Weiss showed a slight ounce of irritation, though it wasn't anything serious. "You mean to tell me that this girl is only fifteen, and she's taller than me?"

Ruby stifled a giggle. "Sorry," she said. "I always thought I was short."

"How in the world does someone so young get hired at an investigative firm?" Weiss asked.

Ironwood spoke up before Ruby had the chance to speak. "I knew her father from back when I worked at our Headquarters in Haven. She showed some promise and he requested that I bring her to Vale to work in my branch."

"You know, I'd never even heard of Beacon until the other day. And you said it's a branch? How come I've never seen you guys anywhere? I've not even seen for openings in the paper or on the internet."

"We don't like to be mainstream," Ironwood explained. "We like to keep our business and our cases private, so we avoid the press and public networks, working only directly with the police and government departments. Our employees don't apply, but are scouted by the higher ups."

Weiss chuckled. "Almost sounds like a secret agent organization."

Ironwood laughed. "I've never thought about it that way, honestly. In reality, it all stems from the fact that the founders originally were private practice until they started taking bigger cases. That's when the scouting for new investigators began. That was over a hundred years ago, I believe."

Weiss turned to Mercury. "So, you caught the eye of this _secret_ investigative group and that's why you quit working for me. I guess I can't be too upset if you got this much of an upgrade. But you do realize that I fully planned to hire you full time once your internship ran out, right?"

Mercury smiled sheepishly. "It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope that you'll keep a seat warmed up for me just in case this doesn't work out, though."

"Are you kidding? If it weren't for my father's idiotic policies, you'd be raking in some royalties right now. You're the _only_ unpaid intern to ever work for me that actually made some drastic innovations in our products. Because you were an intern, my father didn't want to give you credit; so your changes are labeled as having been made by a group of twelve researchers in our R and D department."

"Twelve?" Jaune asked. "What the hell did he do that they had to make it look like _twelve_ guys made it instead of one?"

Mercury smiled. "I wrote about three-fourths of the code for the newest Schnee operating system," he said, half bragging. "It was actually a side project that I took to work with me one day. Weiss saw it and asked if the company could use it. I agreed."

Weiss sighed. "If I knew my father was going to do what he did, I would have never asked you. You could be making just as much money as I do right now if you'd finished the OS on your own time and sold it as a standalone product."

"I'm lost," Ruby said flatly.

"It's computer speak," Blake said. "Just nod your head and tough it out."

Ren approached, having been in another room for the past few minutes. "To what do we owe the pleasure of Ms. Schnee's visit?" he asked.

"She wants to buy us lunch for solving the, uh, Adam Taurus case," Mercury explained.

"While I would argue against it," Ren said. "I imagine you're not taking no for an answer."

"I am not," Weiss answered with a defiant smile. "You guys pick, and I'll pay for it all. Order whatever you want, even if its a two hundred lien steak dinner."

"There are steaks that cost two hundred lien?" Jaune asked.

Blake leaned and whispered, "You bullets cost that much, so is it really surprising that there's food that's that expensive?" He shrugged, accepting her argument.

"Unless you're too busy today," Weiss said after a moment. "I can come back later this week if you'd like."

Ren turned to Mercury. "We got nothing yet," he said. "It's a slow day, so we've got the time."

"So, we might go home early?" Jaune asked with a smile.

"Don't bet on it," Ironwood said flatly.

"Got it, Boss," Jaune replied sadly.

Ironwood turned to face Weiss with a smile. "We'd be honored to accept your generous offer. What do you say to the Malachite Cafe?"

"The place across the street?" Weiss asked. "I've never eaten there before, but that's fine by me." She nodded. "I'll come back in a couple of hours. I have a few errands to run."

"Why don't you let one of us go with you to keep you company?" With a smile, Ironwood placed a hand on Ruby. "She's still a bit new, but she shouldn't get in your way."

Weiss looked at him with confusion. "I don't know," she answered. "I mean, I don't have a reason not to."

"Can you go with Ms. Schnee, Ruby?"

Ruby felt flustered for a moment before she stammered out a, "Y-yeah, I can do that."

"Well," Weiss said, unsure. "Alright. Meet me downstairs in a few minutes. I'll have my driver waiting for us."

Ruby nodded as Weiss turned to exit the room, waving goodbye to everyone. "Keep an eye on her," Ironwood said in a low voice.

"W-what?" Ruby asked.

"Her father contacted me this morning; it seems he's gotten on the bad side of some underground organizations. No doubt he's been doing business under the table. He's worried for her safety, and as an old friend of the family it's my duty to provide protection. Can you do that for me?"

Ruby nodded. "Sure, but I can't use my power against humans."

"That's fine," Ironwood said. He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a small Aura gun. "Use this if you have to. Good luck." Ruby nodded again, pocketed the small firearm, and began to follow Weiss. "Oh, and while Weiss is unaware of the existence of witches, do try to avoid getting too close to her."

Ruby paused. "Why?"

Ironwood's eye's narrowed. "Because she's in our database; she's a witch's descendant."

Everyone in the room looked shocked. Mercury stood up angrily. "What do you mean she's on our list? Why the hell didn't I know about this? I look at that list every day!"

"It's a private section of the list that I keep away from prying eyes; it's to keep certain individuals safe from Headquarters. If you must know, each of you, except for Mercury, are on that same list." He turned to face Mercury and the others with a somber look. "Should anyone on this private list awaken, it's my duty to put them down before Headquarters finds out." A look very much akin to anger appeared on his face. "Now, if you're quite finished, we have a lunch to prepare for. I _suggest_ you leave this discussion behind and forget all about it."

Ruby nodded, fearing Ironwood's authority, before she turned and raced to meet Weiss outside. _'Avoid getting to close to her,'_ he said. _'She's a witch's descendant.'_ Ruby didn't like the sound of that.

That meant that there could come a day that she would have to hunt Weiss. Could someone so kind and thoughtful be plunged into the darkness that comes with witchcraft? She certainly hoped not.

* * *

_Song: Fifth - Soundwitch_

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Sorry for the shorter, slower paced chapter. I couldn't figure out a way to transition between the way this chapter ended to the next segment, so I decided to just make a cut and start the next chapter a little fresh.

ALSO I feel like this story is going a COMPLETELY different direction than what I originally intended, and I've warped the HELL out of the characters. I'm gonna try to commit and finish this story, while at the same time remind myself to never, ever tamper with the character's personalities too much ever again for future stories. I apologize immensely if the characters seem a little OOC. Or alot, as I feel that they are.

So, what would happen if Weiss did awaken? What kind of power would she have? Let's face it, there is only _one_ reason why I would mention that she's on the list of potential witches; it's going to happen. There's no denying it. Also, we may see the beginnings of that "redacted" ship that I mentioned...any guesses on what it might be? Hint: It's my favorite ship. :D

Tell me what you guys think. Reviews, PM me, whatever. I just want to know if this story is good or absolute garbage. I'm torn between the two opinions, really, but I want to finish it. I want to finish it so bad.

Fun Sad Fact: So, I'm gonna get a little somber here for a moment. As I'm sure you've probably noticed in most of my ANs for my other stories, I like to reveal a little bit about my personal life to you, the readers, because I feel it helps you understand what I'm thinking and doing when I write my stories. It's also how I like to bridge the gap between the author and the reader, because all I want is for people to enjoy my work, and I want to socialize. It's what I do.

That being said, I apologize for the following depressing Fact from my life.

January 16, 2015, I got a call from my dad. He came home from work that evening at around 4PM and found that in the last hour or two my dog, Troxell, had died of old age. I have five cats, all of which were apparently standing around Troxell's body meowing sadly at him. He always liked the cats, and tried to play rough with them. They never liked it, but they knew something was wrong when he wasn't chasing after them. I was four years old when my dad brought Troxell home as a puppy. He was half Labrador, and we never found out the other half. We went through pet after pet over the years, but Troxell had always been a constant in my life. That dog watched me grow into a man. I'm twenty now, almost twenty one; Troxell lived a long, happy 16 (almost 17) years. I recently moved out of my dad's house and into my sister's, and the whole time I've been here (nearly 2 hours away) I have missed my pets, especially my dog. I feel like I never got to say goodbye to him, and I wish I had been there in his final moments. I feel like I've lost a piece of myself, and I haven't felt like this since my grandmother died of cancer in 2003. I had Troxell to help me through that. It's almost been two weeks, and I don't see how I'll ever move on. I mean, sure, I've been rather happy these last few weeks, and I've enjoyed myself, but every other day for about thirty minutes to an hour I just sit down and cry thinking about my dog. I grew up with him, and now I'll never see him again.

But that was a bond I would never trade anything for. I don't regret taking him as a pet, and everyone in my family is just as devastated as I was. When my mom found out she gave me a call, my sister called from her job, and my grandmother on my mom's side even called me. He was a part of our family, and no one would ever claim otherwise. It also made me realize that one day I'll have a family of my own. Should the day come that I have a child of my own, I want them to have a pet like Troxell; a pet that will grow up with them and be their companion just as Troxell was mine. Rest in peace, my old friend. You are missed.

Troxell the dog: March 1998-January 16, 2015.

Sorry if that was too long. Anyway, the next chapter will be up in a week or so.

Till next time.

[EDIT: I noticed that out of all of the mistakes I could have made, I got the year wrong in the Author's Note. Since it is about my beloved Troxell, I have corrected it to the correct year.]


	6. Episode 6: Naraku no Hana

_Three hundred and twenty years have passed, since the Coven sank in the dark. Cold iron; a strong substance. Bent by another's will, metal eventually snaps with catastrophic force._

* * *

"You're awful young to be an investigator, don't you think?" Weiss asked from the back seat of her car; a suited man rested in the driver seat at the white vehicle rested at a red light.

Ruby jumped at the sudden question, sitting next to the business woman in the back of the car. "Y-yeah, I get that a lot."

Weiss spared the younger girl a quick glance. "No need to be so tense, er, Ruby, right?" Ruby nodded. "I don't like it when regular, everyday people are so nervous around me. Board executives and business partners are another matter altogether, though. I want _them_ to be sweating bullets around me, not you."

"Sorry," the hunter muttered. "I'm just not really used to interacting with anyone outside of work."

Weiss chuckled as the light changed and the car began to move. "Well, technically I _am_ work, right now. You are still on the clock, and your supervisor instructed you to escort me."

Ruby smiled. "I don't know about all that. Don't you think _escort_ is a bit too serious of a word?"

"Not really. Ironwood may think he's fooling me, but he's not. No disrespect to your supervisor, Ruby, but I've had to deal with men who do business like sharks in my line of work; I can read people very easily. In all likely hood, my father has probably contacted him about something _stupid_ that he's done to endanger us. It's completely coincidental that I visit the place of business of one of my father's associates, but Ironwood probably sees it as a chance to get into my father's good graces and has sent you to _protect_ me, while at the same time making it seem like he's giving you something to do during a slow day of work."

"Wow," Ruby said. "That's...pretty accurate, I suppose. I can't really speak for Mr. Ironwood's intentions, though."

"Well, he must not think there's a high risk for me, otherwise he would have sent one of your coworkers." Having realized what she said, Weiss's eyes went wide and she turned to Ruby. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to degrade you like that. I'm sure you're a good detective, but I just meant that I don't see Ironwood risking a fifteen year old girl's life to be a body guard."

The young hunter laughed. "No, it's fine. I know I have a long way to go to be anything like Blake or Ren." Ruby shrugged. "But, I will try my best. I promise you that."

"As I say to my employees, only you can make yourself succeed. No one can expect you to do more than try."

Ruby smiled. "You actually care about your employees. I mean, for a company the size of yours, it's not something I'd expect."

Weiss nodded with a light sigh. "I try to get on a personal level with everyone who works for me. If I sign the check, then I want to know who's getting said check. It's been rough these last few days, though. Adam being murdered really put a dampener in the office, and the day after another of my employees, Velvet, sent me a heartfelt apology via email, saying she was taking a week of sick time off from work. Poor girl. I know almost for a fact that she's healthy; I suspect she's taken Adam's death hard. She's so delicate."

Suddenly, the car came to a screeching halt as the breaks were forced down and the tires slid across the pavement. Both girls barely had enough reaction time to keep their faces from smashing into the backs of the front seats. "What happened?" Weiss asked the driver.

"Miss," he said in a low voice. "You might want to duck your head."

Without heading his warning, Weiss unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned forward. "What do you mean?" she asked. Looking out of the windshield, she saw several men wearing black suits and red sunglasses, each of them holding a gun. A red haired woman dressed in red clothes stood in the middle of them; she raised her right hand. "Oh my god," Weiss whispered in shock. The woman's right hand fell, and Weiss got over her shock. "Get down!"

A barrage of bullets assaulted the vehicle, crashing into the bulletproof glass of the windows and filling the body of the car with holes and silver outlines where paint chipped and melted off. The driver was in shock and didn't duck until after the bullets were fired, but Weiss and Ruby were both in the floor of the back seat. _No fire,_ Ruby reminded herself. _I can't burn humans. Only witches._ Quickly, she reached into her coat pocket and produced the Aura gun that was given to her. After a moment, the gunfire ceased.

"Ruby, what are you doing?" Weiss asked.

"My job," she replied. "Stay here." Quickly opening the back door, she rolled out and stood with the Aura gun at the ready. Without missing a beat, she pulled the trigger and barely clipped two of the gunmen in the shoulders. The rest seemed to scramble to reload their guns. The driver of the car got out and pulled a gun of his own; a small revolver. Pulling the trigger, he dispatched one of the gunman using all six bullets, clearly panicking as he shot.

One gunman managed to reload and opened fire on the driver, hitting him in the hand, arm, and shoulder. One bullet grazed Ruby's leg, forcing her to take a knee behind the door. "You idiot!" Weiss exclaimed. "Get back in here! You are far too young to risk your life!"

"You're barely older than me!" Ruby yelled back as she checked her gun; she still had seven Aura bullets in the magazine. _They're human_, she reminded herself, resisting the urge to use her craft. _They're human, damn it!_

"Enough!" the woman in red exclaimed. "You guys are taking way too long." She stepped forward and pointed her hand at the car. "Let me show you how it's done."

Ruby peaked through the cracked window of the open door to see what she was doing, when suddenly she noticed that the window was getting too high for her to look out of from her current position. "Ruby," Weiss said. "What's going on? Why is the car lifting?"

Ruby turned to face Weiss and almost hit her nose on the bottom of the door frame; the car was floating. "Uh," she said. "That's not good." A horrible, metallic warping sound reverberated around them. Looking up, Ruby saw that the car's roof was caving in on its own. "Weiss, get out of the car!"

Weiss looked up and saw the roof closing in on her. Quickly, she obeyed and crawled out to Ruby. "What is going on?" she asked, almost in tears.

Without answering, Ruby handed Weiss the gun. She rotated her body to look at the lady in red and stared at her. "A witch!" she muttered. _I can burn a witch!_ Reaching into her coat pocket, Ruby pulled out her new glasses and put them on. _Let's see how much these help._ Her vision was blurry; she couldn't see through the lenses. She tilted her head to look over them so she could visualize her target. The red woman noticed that her target was no longer in the vehicle and turned to face Ruby and Weiss; she met Ruby's gaze.

With the woman in Ruby's sight, she began to summon her power. Slowly she could feel her vision failing her, and she tilted her head back up so that she was looking out of the glasses; she could see clearly through them now. Not wasting any more time to experiment with the glasses, Ruby willed the woman to catch fire.

Her sleeve caught flame, and the woman broke eye contact; the car came crashing to the ground. "Aaaagh!" she screamed as she tried to pat out the fire. "Shoot them!" she ordered.

Sensing the threat, Ruby quickly summoned a wall of fire that was hot enough to instantly melt the lead of the bullets at the same moment that they opened fire. After a moment, she noticed that the shooting had stopped and she risked lowering the flames; the men and the woman were driving off in a car. Ruby was about to give chase when she felt Weiss grab her coat sleeve.

Pausing she looked down and saw the terribly frightened business woman. "What...what just happened?"

* * *

~Witch Hunter Ruby~

Episode 6: Naraku No Hana

"I demand answers!" Weiss exclaimed as she, Ruby, and her driver sat in Beacon's third floor office area. "What in the hell is going on? Why did my _car_ float and crush inward on itself? Why did _fire_ spawn out of nowhere, and _why_ does no one around here seem as freaked out as I am right now?"

The driver had seen better days; his right ring finger had been shot clean off, and he had bullet wounds all up and down his right arm. Neo sat next to him with a metal tray, metal bowl, medical tools and strong pain medicine as she pulled bullets out of him and sewed his wounds up. Wincing and drinking Ironwood's brandy through the pain, he simply patted Weiss's shoulder and whispered, "Miss Schnee, please calm down."

Everyone simply sat in silence. "It's your call, Boss," Mercury said to Ironwood. "She's seen too much to be left in the dark."

Ironwood sighed heavily; were it not for the driver's severe wounds, he himself would be drinking the brandy. "I agree."

"Well," Mercury began. "To simplify it-"

"Wait!" Ruby said as she stood from her seat next to Neo; a bandage on her leg indicated where Neo quickly treated her injury. "Let me."

Mercury paused and stared at Ruby before he shrugged and nodded. "All yours."

Nodding, Ruby moved to sit next to Weiss. "Miss Schnee," she began. "The world isn't as _normal_ as you've grown up to believe."

Weiss scoffed. "Yeah, I can tell. Levitating cars and spontaneous combustion usually tip one off to such things."

"Do you remember fairy tales from when you were a child? The ones about witches?"

Weiss's jaw dropped. "No. No, you can't be suggesting that _magic_ exists."

"No, not really. We don't really know what to call it other than what we've called it for thousands of years; witchcraft. People who possess extraordinary and addictive powers are what we call witches."

The white haired business woman shook her head. "You can't be serious."

"We are," Ren said flatly. "Think to your high school history lessons; ever hear about Salem?"

"Well, yes, but that was just a bunch of children falsly accusing random people of being witches to draw attention away from their own misbehaving. It cost the lives of many innocents."

"Actually, the only innocent casualty was one of the hunters; everyone else that was put to death were proven witches. Very few of them managed to escape, and of those very few managed to procreate into this century."

Weiss wanted to laugh, but found that she couldn't. She looked at Ruby with curiosity and wonder now. "And you're a witch yourself? A witch hunting other witches?"

Ruby winced at being called a witch. "No. I'm what's called a craft user. I am a witch's descendant who resists the temptation to use my power, so I use it stop witches who give into that same temptation."

"Temptation?"

Blake stepped forward. "A craft, or a power, is very addictive. It's like a drug; the more you use it, the more you _need _ to use it. It eats away at your sanity until it either consumes and kills you, or you go rampant and harm those around you. Those of us that are craft users understand that there is a high risk that comes with our power, and we try our hardest to use our power as infrequently as possible."

Weiss looked at all the present hunters. "And you all have this power?"

Mercury chuckled. "No. Only Ruby and Blake are awakened. The other hunters are descendants of witches who haven't awakened. There's a strong chance that they never will." He pointed at himself. "And I'm just a tech guy. I'm no hunter."

Jaune crossed his arms. "I don't know if I ever want to awaken, either. The way Ruby and Blake describes it makes it sound terrifying."

"That doesn't explain why a witch tried to have me killed," Weiss said, having calmed down at this point and begun to use reason.

"It's simple," Ironwood said. "This witch works for the organization that has named your father their enemy."

Weiss face twisted into a shape of anger. "Father," she muttered with a touch of venom in her voice. She turned to face the team of hunters and stood up. "I want an investigation to commence right now. I want to track down the person who attacked me and stop them."

Ironwood nodded. "We'll stop the witch; you have my word on that. However, the human side of this organization is outside of our jurisdiction. That is to be left up to the police."

Weiss scoffed. "Please, you honestly think an organization that hates my father wouldn't have the funding to bribe the police? That's the only way they would have risked killing me in broad daylight. They didn't have anything to worry about." Casting a glance and a smile at Ruby, she continued, "Except for a fire starting witch hunter, that is."

Mercury brought his hands together and crossed fingers, before he stretched outwardly and popped the joints in his knuckles. "I say we get started right now," he said. "Moving to his workstation of many monitors, he typed his computer password in and started to open the witch database. "Give me every detail you can remember about the witch."

A moment later, while everyone was crowded around Mercury's workstation, Yang walked into the office humming to herself before she froze and stared at the spectacle before her. To her left was a metal cart with a bloody tray and several blood chunks of lead that looked to be bullets. "Uh," she said. "What the hell did I miss?"

* * *

A cry of pain erupted from the young woman as she was forced up against the concrete wall by her employer. "I told you to kill her!" he yelled at the woman as he held her by the throat. "I've had it up to _here_ with the Schnees! You were supposed to kill Weiss, and then move to kill her father! Why couldn't you do that?"

Choking her words out, the red haired woman replied, "She had a body guard with, aaagh, powers."

The man paused and looked into her eyes curiously. "Powers?" She nodded. He stared at her with detest for a moment longer before a thin, cruel smile crept onto his lips. He laughed briefly before letting her go. "So, Miss Nikos, you're telling me that there are more freaks out there like you?"

Having fallen to her knees, choking and gasping for air, she nodded and said, "Yes." She glanced up at her employer. "She created a wall of fire. And...and she burned my arm." Glancing down, she saw the burns on her skin.

"A minor setback, I suppose. You are still going to kill her, though. That was the job that we agreed upon."

"I know, Mr. Xiong."

"Remember, Miss Nikos; if you kill the Schnees, you and your friend are free to go. So long as those two are alive, however, your pretty little friend's life is in my hands."

Pyrrha shuddered at the thought. "Can...Can I please see her?"

"I'm afraid little Miss Scarlatina is currently indisposed right now." Pyrrha's eyes went wide with fear. "Oh, fret not, Miss Nikos. She's healthy and safe. Her life will only be in danger if you fail. Are you going to fail?"

She shook her head. "No, sir."

"Good. You have forty-eight hours to kill Weiss. A week to kill her father. Get to it."

Standing up, Pyrrha left the building slowly, clutching her burnt arm as she tried to ignore the pain of her cracked, blackened skin. She went to her apartment first to try and treat her injury with some simple burn ointment, as well as swallowing a handful of antibiotics just in case she had gotten something into the wound. She put on a dark brown leather jacket to cover her arm; Velvet's jacket. On her way back out of her home she paused at the sight of a picture frame on a table next to the door. The frame was metallic, and contained a single photo of her and Velvet. Raising her hand, she used her power over metal to lift the frame and bring it closer as she stared longingly at the photo. Their faces were pressed up together, smiling happily while Velvet's arm was just out of view; she had been the one to take the picture.

A single tear ran down the red head's cheek as she carefully returned the picture to its place on the table. "I'll save you, Velvet," she whispered. Turning away, she bolted out the door, ready to hunt down and murder a complete strange. Murder was the last thing she ever expected to do in her life.

But the drive to protect the someone you cared for would force someone to become something they aren't. In the name of love, Pyrrha would allow herself to become a monster, just for one more chance to see her beloved friend. As she walked she stuck her hands inside the jacket and was surprised to find Velvet's cell phone resting unused inside.

* * *

In the building where Pyrrha and Hei Xiong, more commonly referred to as Junior, had been talking, the grizzly man set about to checking in on his prize. He waited for the red head to leave before he made his way to the seemingly unimportant door on the far side of the room. Pulling out a key, he unlocked the door and entered it, making his way down a brief flight of stairs. A terrified whimper reached his ears, eliciting a smile from his bearded lips. Under a single lit lamp was a steel cage meant for hunting dogs, but inside was not an animal; it was a young girl. Her clothing was torn and filthy, and her complexion was bastardized by bruises and small cuts. Her long brown hair covered her face as she hugged closely to herself, her chin resting on her knees. "Now now, my little Rabbit," Junior said, using his pet name for the girl. "Once your friend does her job, you'll be free to go."

She glanced up through her hair, scared for her safety in the presence of the man. "Please," she begged. "Why are you doing this? We haven't done anything to you to deserve this."

"Didn't you?" Junior taunted. "Did you never question how your friend was able to pay for that nice apartment that you two moved into?"

"W-what?"

"She borrowed money from me. I'm a very generous man, Miss Scarlatina. I loan money to every man and woman under the sun who needs to pay their bills or improve their lives. I only ask that, after a time, I get my money back." The look of shock and horror on Velvet's face brought an even bigger smile to his face. "Three days ago your time ran out, and your friend failed to pay up the amount that was agreed upon. She had two options; I could kill both of you and no one would be the wiser, or she could work for me to pay the money back. And believe me, the amount that she borrowed can only be paid back with labor if she does some serious work. In this case, she's going to kill off my business competitors from the Schnee Corporation."

"B-but, she can't!" Velvet screamed. "Please, don't make her do this! And my employer probably knows something is wrong. You've had me locked away for a couple of days now and I haven't called in; she must be looking for me!"

"Oh, she's already on the hunt," he whispered back. "And truthfully, I don't expect her to succeed. She'll probably die trying, but she'll die all the same. As for your employer, the young Weiss Schnee, not only did we send her an email from _your _computer expressing your apologies for taking a sudden week of sick time, but she's also the one that Miss Nikos is going to try to kill. So, until she succeeds or fails, you and I have some time to ourselves." His right hand moved and began to undo his belt buckle. "Do try to enjoy it as much as I will."

* * *

"I got a match!" Mercury exclaimed, drawing the attention of everyone present in the Beacon office. "She's on our potential witch list. Tell me, boss, is this your 'lady in red'?" Mercury caught himself when he noticed that Ironwood gave him a curious and confused glance. "I meant Weiss."

Weiss and Ruby, as well as the now patched up and slightly medicated car driver, leaned over and examined the profile on Mercury's screen. "Well, I'll be damned," Weiss whispered. "That's her alright."

Smiling, Mercury began to read aloud the dossier. "Pyrrha Nikos; Age twenty-two, works for small fitness center here in vale. She currently lives in an two bedroom apartment in a dense residential region of Vale. Her roommate..." he trailed off as he opened a separate tab and accessed the city's records, pulling up a list of people who lived in the same apartment complex. "Is a young woman by the name of Velvet Scarlatina."

"Velvet!?" Weiss exclaimed.

"You know her?"

"She works for me," she explained. "I haven't seen her in two or three days; she took the week off for." She began to pace back and forth. "That can't be good, right? Why is she living with a witch?"

"We shouldn't question their reasoning for living together just yet," Ren said calmly. "It might be a coincidence. They may just be friends."

"Do you know Pyrrha, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

Weiss thought. "I might have seen her once or twice if she ever came by the office to see Velvet, but otherwise no, I've never seen her before today."

"Why would she and a bunch of gunmen try to kill you?"

"Who knows."

"Maybe she's being strong armed into it," Blake suggested. "We already know that your father pissed off someone, so it might be that they found Pyrrha and forced her to use her powers for their gain."

Jaune groaned. "Great! A greedy organization with no legal morals has a witch in their arsenal. Isn't that wonderful?"

"If that's the case," Weiss started. "Do you think we can reason with her?"

Ren sighed. "It's possible. But, either way, now that she's confirmed as an awakened witch and is openly displaying her power, we have no choice but to capture her."

Weiss stared at Ren for a moment. "Do you not discriminate between hostile and docile witches?"

He smiled a sarcastic smile. "Was Pyrrha docile when she crushed your car?"

"How are we going to find her?" Jaune asked. "If she's being strong armed into assassinating Weiss, then she's not likely to stay at her apartment. Especially now that she's failed once."

"That does make the hunt tricky," Mercury said. "Assuming she's being forced into it, and now that she's failed once, it stands to reason that she's on a dwindling time table. Her own life must be at risk."

"I don't see how someone with that kind of power could be intimidated by a normal human," Weiss added.

"That's true," Ruby said. "Most witches who move as openly as Pyrrha are aware of just how powerful they are, and they know that most people can't stop them."

"Maybe they've got some sort of insurance against her," Mercury stated. "They could be holding something over her head as a form of leverage, or threatening her loved ones even."

Weiss thought for a moment when a concept popped into her head. _No_, she thought. Producing her cell phone, she dialed a number; it went straight to voice mail. _No, no, no!_ She dialed it again, and again, and two more times after, and even tried a different number after that. "Oh no," she whispered.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

Turning to face the hunters, Weiss held her phone up for the others to see what contact she had called. "Velvet's not answering her cell phone or her home phone." A moment later, her phone began to ring and vibrate. Looking, she saw Velvet's name on the ID. _Oh, thank God!_ Clicking the call button, she answered with, "Oh, thank god. I'm so sorry for bothering you on your week off, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"_She isn't_," replied a woman's voice that Weiss knew didn't belong to Velvet.

Her face shifted from relief, back to worry, and soon to anger. "What have you done with Velvet?"

There was a pause, and Weiss could have sworn that she heard a muffled sob. "_Meet me in an hour to find out._" The woman hung up, and a moment later Weiss received a text message with an address.

Weiss forced herself to stay calm before she lost her cool in front the Beacon staff. "I think it was Pyrrha. I believe that Velvet is in danger."

"It's a trap," Ren said. "We'll go in your stead and catch the witch off guard. Ruby, stay here with Weiss and make sure that she's safe."

"Righ-" Ruby started.

But Weiss interrupted her. "No. I'm going to speak with her." Without waiting to hear any sort of warning, Weiss turned and started to storm out of the office.

"Wait!" Ruby exclaimed, grabbing Weiss's wrist. "It's too dangerous for a normal human to confront a witch!"

"That _witch_ has put the life of my friend and colleague in danger. Human or not, I'm going to find out why and get Velvet back to safety."

"Humans can't fight witches! Even if you use our Aura gun, the gun will only harm your body!"

"Aside from you, Ruby, everyone else here is a _normal_ human!" she yelled back as she turned around to face Ruby. The rest of the office simply watched and waited to jump in should they need to speak their part.

Ruby, however, calmed herself down and stared deeply into Weiss's angry eyes. "Adam Taurus," she muttered.

Weiss returned Ruby's gaze. "What about Adam?" she asked with venom in her words.

"You never heard how he died, did you?" Weiss flinched. "He was electrocuted to death by a witch. His body rose to temperatures so high that his flesh was burnt, blackened, and melted. We knew it was him, as he was killed in his own apartment, but we went ahead and checked his DNA and dental records just to be sure, since we couldn't even use photo identification."

Weiss became visibly sick upon hearing this. "Why are you..."

"He is just one victim out of hundreds of thousands, maybe millions who have had the misfortune of crossing a witch. His case was worse, as the witch who killed him had long since become addicted to his powers." Ruby glanced at Mercury and nodded at his screen, upon which he returned the nod and rotated the screen so that they could see Pyrrha's profile. "She has yet to become addicted to her power, but she's openly declared hostility against you. She wants to kill you, Weiss. If you go to her, she'll succeed. A witch with great power and a set mind is more dangerous than a rampant witch who's become a slave to their abilities. Going to see her is suicide."

Weiss stood in silence for a moment longer, glancing back and forth between Ruby and the picture of Pyrrha. "I can't just sit here, though! My employees...my colleagues are my _family_! I make sure that they are fed, clothed, and taken care of. I'm the reason that the Schnee Corporation now has full medical insurance coverage at no cost to the employees in my branch because I pay for all of it out of pocket! My employees can take time off without the fear of losing their jobs, and they can look forward to coming into work to see their coworkers! Velvet is my responsibility, Ruby! I have to help her!"

Ruby nodded. "Fine," she said, letting go of Weiss's wrist. "But I'm going with you. As well as the rest of Beacon."

Ironwood smiled at the sight. "I have an idea," he said. He left the room for a moment and returned with a small metal case, roughly the size of a small jewelry box. Opening it, he revealed an Aura necklace. "If you're going, Weiss, and there's no way we can talk you out of it, then wear this."

Weiss stared at it, and glanced around at the hunters to see that all but Ruby wore one. "What is it?"

"It's called Aura."

"Aura? Didn't Ruby say that it would harm me if I used it?"

Ironwood nodded. "The side effects, however, take time to manifest. So long as you don't prolong the exposure you should be fine."

Weiss's eyes were glued to the Aura pendant for a moment before she smiled a weak smile and put it on. Glancing at Ruby, she asked, "Why don't you wear one?"

Ruby scoffed playfully, trying to lighten the mood. "Don't need it." Ruby turned to her fellow hunters. "I'll be with her when she talks to Pyrrha. The rest of you hide and wait until an opportunity presents itself to take the witch down."

Everyone nodded, and Ren silently smiled inwardly at the sight. Ironwood himself seemed pleased with Ruby's assertive behavior, but he never said a word as he left to retreat to his office.

* * *

Velvet lay quietly in her cage, pleased that Junior hadn't returned to violate her in several hours. There was a lone man sitting in a metal folding chair keeping watch over her, twirling the key to the cage in his fingers. At his hip, Velvet saw a black pistol resting, waiting to be drawn and fired. Many times she had hoped she could get her hands on it and kill Junior. She wanted to save Pyrrha and herself from this situation. Her fear was that it would be for nothing, and that they would be killed in the process. However, Junior revealed earlier, before he had his way with her again, that he had no plans to let Pyrrha live one way or the other. Velvet figured it was better to have died trying than to watch her friend get murdered in her name.

So, she hatched a plan, and this lone guard was the first step in this scheme. "I'm sorry," she said in a weak voice. "I'm hungry. Please. You haven't fed me in hours."

The guard scoffed. "You think you're people? Do you see what you're in? You're an animal to us, girl. Animals need to be disciplined! You can go hungry for a few measly hours."

"Please," she repeated. "I'm begging you. I haven't eaten all day."

The guard became frustrated. "Shut up."

"Please!"

"Quiet!"

"I don't wanna die."

"I said shut the hell up!" he exclaimed as he stood and made his way to the cage. Crouching down, he stared straight into her eyes. "Hush up, or I'll teach you a lesson mysel-"

Before he could finish his sentance, Velvet stuck her arm through the bars of the cage and punched him in the jaw, catching him off guard. Before he could recover, she twisted both of her arms around him until he faced the opposite direction and she held a tight grip around his neck. He choked, gagged, and gasped for air as the panic set in, rendering his flailing arms useless as he tried fruitlessly to break free. After a moment, he gargled and went limp, but Velvet took no chances as she continued her choke hold for another five minutes before she let go. Tears streamed down her face as the realization set in. "I...I've killed someone," she whispered. "I'm...I'm sorry." She thought for a moment and wiped the tears away. "But my life is more important to me than yours." Reaching into his pocket she found the key and unlocked the cage.

Just before she began her journey to sneak out, she grabbed the gun at his hip. On her way to the stairs, she heard a man, Junior, yelling angrily at someone before she heard his footsteps storm outside.

* * *

"What are you doing here, Pyrrha?" Junior asked, dropping any sense of formality in his anger. "You're supposed to be looking for Weiss Schnee!"

"I'm waiting for my target," she said calmly. "She'll be coming here, that way you can watch as Weiss Schnee dies."

"Are you insane?" he asked.

"No more than you are," she replied shooting him a deadly glare. "Velvet better be safe and untouched."

Junior smiled. "Oh, you would like that, wouldn't you? Well, did it ever cross your mind that Weiss could bring the cops with her? You put me at risk! As far as I'm concerned, you and your little friend are as good as dead!"

He seemed like he was going to say more, but a car pulled up and stopped in front of the building. Panicking, he stepped back and stood in the doorway; Pyrrha simply smiled a cruel, desperate smile as she took a step closer to the vehicle.

Weiss and Ruby stepped out of the car, which then proceeded to speed away, clearly aware of the conflict that was about to occur. Weiss looked nervously to Ruby who gave her a reassuring hand on the shoulder and a confident smile before the two approached Pyrrha. "You came," she said.

"Yes," Weiss replied. "Where is Velvet?"

Pyrrha gestured with her head to the building behind her. "In there, assuming I haven't been lied to." She looked back at Junior and shot him another death glare. Returning to Weiss, she continued, "I don't want to kill you, Miss Schnee, but it's the only way to ensure Velvet's safety."

Weiss sighed with relief. "I was afraid you were the one who had taken Velvet. At least I know you're not that much of a monster." Ruby cringed at the word _monster_, which Weiss clearly meant as a derogatory insult towards the witch.

"If there were any other way, I wouldn't be doing this. Please understand."

"I understand," Ruby said. "But I can't accept that this needs to end in murder." Ruby stared into Pyrrha's green eyes. "You're a witch, Pyrrha," she said, catching the red head off guard with her name. "I'm a witch hunter. I have no choice but to capture you, but that doesn't mean I can't help you."

"Please," Weiss said. "Who has taken Velvet? We want to help her!"

Pyrrha seemed to tear up. "But...I..."

"You're not a murderer," Ruby said. "You're desperate."

"I...I am desperate," she agreed. After a moment of silence, Pyrrha began to cry softly. "Please. Help us."

Weiss smiled. "We'll get the police here right away," she said.

"What are you waiting for?" Junior yelled as he stepped out of the door frame. His henchmen all piled out of the building and stood nearby with their guns drawn. "Kill them before I have my guys kill the lot of you!"

Pyrrha turned to face Junior and smiled. "Hunter," she said to Ruby. "What did you call me?"

Ruby was silent for a moment. "You're a witch."

"A witch. I am a witch." She raised her hands, prepared to dismantle the guns and use the parts against Junior. "If you're here to hunt me anyway, I might as well kill the man responsible for all of this!"

Ruby's eye's went wide. "No!" she and Weiss screamed at the same time.

A gunshot went off, echoing around the buildings and assaulting the ears of all present. Pyrrha, Weiss, and Ruby all went wide eyed with shock. Junior's henchmen all turned to see who had fired at what and were surprised to see Junior himself go limp and fall to the ground; a gaping bullet hole took up a large portion of the back of his head, and his henchmen were now just as shocked as Ruby and company.

Standing in the doorframe, behind where Junior had stood, was a worse for wear Velvet. Her long brown hair was matted and filthy, her clothes were torn and raggedy, and her skin was covered in bruises. In her right hand was a small, black pistol with a trace amount of smoke drifting out of the barrel. Her expression was blank, yet her eyes were streaming with tears.

To everyone present, time seemed to slow as Junior's men all turned their weapons on Velvet. "No!" Pyrrha screamed just as they all fired their weapons. Quickly raising her hand, she caught as many of the bullets as she could in her power, but not all of them. In a small spray of blood, three bullets pierced Velvet's shoulder, chest, and left arm, forcing her to the ground in a bleeding state.

Pyrrha screamed angrily. Exerting her power ever metal, she ripped every gun out of every hand. She wasn't going to dismantle the weapons. She was going to use them against her foes. The look on horror lasted for only a moment. "Stop her!" Ren exclaimed from behind a nearby building, and the remaining hunters leapt from their hiding places and took aim. Once again using her power, she made the triggers on the Aura guns lock up, causing the hunters to be unable to fire. Before any other acts of prevention could be committed, she pulled the triggers on every gun pointed at Junior's men, killing all of them.

Including Junior himself, there were thirteen corpses on the ground. Releasing her power, Pyrrha collapsed to her knees and sat there, sobbing. She was certain that Velvet had died; she never cried out in pain when she was shot. Weiss, and Blake close behind, ran to check on Velvet. Blake knelt by the girl and checked her pulse through her glove. "She's dead," Pyrrha said from her kneeling position.

Weiss looked at the witch, and then turned worriedly to Blake to hear the official verdict. Blake looked serious for a moment longer before a smile spread on her lips. "She's alive," she said to Weiss. The business woman breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Pyrrha's eyes went wide. "Alive? She's alive?" She started to stand but fell back to her knees; she felt weak.

Ruby approached and knelt beside her. "You want us to bring her to you so you can say one last goodbye?"

Pyrrha looked at her with confusion. "Goodbye?"

"You're a witch," Ruby explained. "And we are witch hunters. We can't leave you be anymore, Pyrrha."

Ren approached from behind. "We don't have a say in the matter," he said. "But we haven't called the Factory yet. Jaune, bring Miss Scarlatina over to the wit...over to Pyrrha after Blake administers first aid."

A few moments later, the blonde young man returned with Velvet in his arms. As he knelt by Pyrrha, the brunette regained consciousness. "Hnng," she said. "P-Pyrrha? What's going on?"

Pyrrha was in tears, but she smiled as she replied. "I told you I'd save you," she replied. She gently hugged Velvet. "Please, don't get hurt while I'm gone. Stay safe for me."

"Gone? W-where are you going?"

"I'm a..."

"Murderer," Ren chimed in before she could say the word 'witch.' "She killed a lot of men to save you."

Velvet's eyes went wide. "You're the police?" Ren nodded a false affirmative. "B-but, I killed Junior!"

"No you didn't," Ren lied. "I saw the whole thing."

Velvet started to cry, but Weiss approached and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't cry," she comforted. "Only the law says that she's a murderer. As far as we're concerned, she acted out of a need to protect you. We witnessed it, but we can't fault her for it."

Velvet nodded. "When...when will I see you again?"

"I dunno," Pyrrha said. "Hopefully soon."

"You need medical assistance," Ren said. "This will ease your pain until you get to the hospital." He pulled out a syringe and quickly and expertly injected a sedative into Velvet, who fell asleep in a matter of seconds. He then switched his personal radio on. "Mercury, call the Factory. This hunt is over."

Pyrrha leaned and kissed Velvet's forehead as she slept. "Goodbye."

* * *

Every member of Beacon's staff, say for Ironwood, sat in the Malachite Cafe with Weiss, eating a very late dinner. "I didn't know that there were any decent restaurants still open at this hour," Weiss said as she looked at the clock that was going on Ten PM.

Militia giggled slightly as she refilled Weiss's wine glass. "I'm not usually open this late either, but my special customers get special favors such as this whenever they like. Please, don't be a stranger and let me know if there is anything more I can get you."

Weiss gave the girl a thank you before turning to her companions, all of whom were enjoying and finishing off their meals. Mercury had explained that Ironwood was called away by Headquarters just after they left to hunt Pyrrha, which Weiss was very understanding of. What she couldn't understand was how happy everyone seemed to be. They were all eating, drinking, and laughing. She just couldn't wrap her head around it. Ruby noticed the concerned look on the business woman's face. "Weiss? Are you okay?"

"How?" she asked, drawing everyone's attention suddenly. "How do you do it? How can you act like it's just another day when...when days like today happen."

Blake sighed and nodded. "It's not easy," she said. "I wish I could say that you get desensitized to it all. But, for us it seems, we can't."

Yang nodded. "It breaks my heart every time we hunt a witch like Pyrrha. Who was that other girl? Emer-" Blake elbowed her, pointed to Weiss with her eyes Yang realized what she was about to say and nodded; Emerald used to be an intern at Weiss's company. Small world.

"The thing is, Weiss," Ruby said. "We don't do this because we like it, or because we want to. We do it because we have to."

"Why do you have to?"

"Because rampant, out of control witches are too dangerous to leave be. Sometimes they hurt others, sometimes they destroy themselves; sometimes both," Jaune added, passing a glance to Ren. Ren remained silent.

Ruby nodded in agreement. "Someday, I may become addicted to my power and go rampant. When that day comes, I will be hunted. It's a vicious cycle, Weiss, and it's one that must exist." Weiss visibly deflated even more.

"But it's not all bad," Jaune said quickly added. "Sometimes we help people. Sometimes we actually see how our work can save lives. Take you for example. Ruby saved you earlier today." He smiled, trying to cheer the woman up.

"Or," Ruby chimed. "Think of Velvet as an example. We helped save her life today."

Weiss smiled. "We did, didn't we?" She wiped away a single tear. "Your right. It's not pretty, but your work is neccesary. And you know what? I want to help you. Anything you need just give me a call. I promise you that you'll get a better deal from me than you would my father." Turning to Jaune, she added, "For starters, you're getting a phone." Jaune balled up a fist and struck a slight victory pose. Weiss stood and left a blank check on the table. "There's your dinner. I need to go home. You'll hear from me first thing in the morning."

* * *

It was after eleven before Weiss made it home. She stopped by the hospital to check on Velvet one last time before she finally found her way to her apartment. She sighed heavily as she quickly dropped her items in their rightful places; phone on the charger, watch and wallet on the counter, keys on and coat on their individual racks. She reached into her suit pants to fish for any other objects when she felt a cold, glass object. Curious, she pulled it out to find that it was the Aura pendant from earlier. She completely forgot that after their encounter with Pyrrha she had put it into her pocket. _The side effects?_ She thought in a quick panic, but then she thought for a moment.

The side effects only manifested during prolonged exposure. So, she figured, nothing would be wrong with keeping it so long as it wasn't in direct contact with her on a regular basis. With that thought in mind, she placed the pendant inside of her coat pocket before retiring to her bed for the night.

* * *

_Song: Naraku no Hana - Eiko Shimamiya_

**Author's Note**

Oh my dear God I finally finished this chapter! It took way too long! It's also the longest chapter so far. And probably my favorite one as well! It was so fun to write! But now, some orders of business.

I am so sorry for having Velvet raped by Junior...I wanted this story to get darker at times and I saw that as an opportunity to do so. Plus, I think it makes it more emotional when she blows Junior away.

Also, yes, Weiss is keeping the Aura necklace. But don't worry, she won't feel the side effects. Remember, that only affects normal humans, and if you remember Episode 5, we find out that Weiss is not a normal human! She's a ticking witch bomb! So, her body is like the hunters; no powers, but she's able to use the Aura with no side effects.

So, tell me what you thought if you'd be so kind. PM me, leave a review, send a messenger raven or something. I'd like to know what you thought of this chapter, and the story as a whole really. I'm having too much fun with this. It's like The Longest Night all over again, but less death...I think.

Fun Fact: I recently joined the Going Blind Club! I suspected that I was losing vision slowly, and I was correct! I'm going to place an order on my first pair of glasses tomorrow!

Till next time!


	7. PSA: Patreon!

PSA: Creating Worlds of Adventure, One Word at a Time. (!)

Sorry if I got some hopes up. Nothing new for any stories tonight. My sincerest apologies. Don't worry, I'm currently working on Witch Hunter Ruby, The Downward Spiral, The Melancholy of Jaune Arc, Helvetica Standard, Eternity Rising (yes, that story is still happening), and, yes, I even have some ideas for the next Team RWBY Plays (we gonna go _old school_ in the next chapter!)

But I do have something important to talk about; ! I've been writing for a very long time in my eyes; 11 years. I was ten years old when I first put pen to paper (well, more like finger to keyboard.) Don't worry; _none_ of those stories exist anymore. In that time, I have learned a lot about what my style is, what I like and don't like, how to personify characters and make them feel more real (at least I hope so), and I went from not being able to come up with a decent plot to save my life, all the way to thinking a plot out so much that I want to make myself by the brain. Not the neck; the brain. Don't ask how, but I'm sure I could find a way.

I spent the first six years of my writing trying out different styles, POVs, character archetypes, and plotting methods. 2012 was an interesting year, because unlike most writers I know (which is you lovely people! :D) I did a backwards transition; most start with fan fiction and work their way to original content. I saw fan fiction as a challenge; what would happen if I limited myself to someone else's rules? So, I first delved into fanfiction. My Little Pony fan fiction no less. Don't judge. November, 2013, I discovered RWBY. I don't know why I took as long as I did, since I was already watching Rooster Teeth content, but, eh, better late than never. December, I made this Fanfiction account and started writing RWBY fanfiction. The rest, as they say, is history.

But during all of that, including the last 3 years of fanfiction, I've still been writing original content. I've even been asked by a few of you if you could read it. Sorry, I wasn't able to allow that. I'm sure you've seen a plethora of mistakes in my fanfiction, and the reason for that is because I have no intention of publishing content based on someone else's work. My original work, on the other hand, usually sits on my computer for a very, very long time before I ever deem it worth being read even by one of my near by friends. I'd like to change that. For almost 2 years, I've been sitting on a near complete final draft of a book.

_**Devastation: Book One of the Shifted Universe**_

The first part of my fantasy. My fantasy, which has been in development and imagination for eight years. Eight long years I've been designing, plotting, and setting up for these stories. Now, I feel like it's time to show them to the world.

...

_EXCEPT THAT I CAN'T_.

You see, publishing costs money; that is money that I don't have, nor will I get it from my minimum wage job as the ol' McDs. That's where you guys can come in, if you want.

If you pledge a little bit to my campaign, I can slowly inch my way to finally setting up that publishing. I can pay for the cover art, maybe hire someone to edit it (I am crap at editing), pay for marketing, cover the publishing cost, and maybe have a little left over to pay some bills. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Most campaigns offer some sort of bonus to patrons. I would very much like to do that as well. However, I am an idiot and know not what to offer you guys. So, not only would it mean the world to me if you donated, but I would also love to hear what _you_ want! Tell me what you want from me in return, and if it's within the realm of possibility, I'll add it as a goal. Does that sound fair? I hope it does. I'm new at this, so pardon me if I seem somewhat...naive?

You can find my link on my profile page. Please do me a favor and check it out. :D

Well, till next time!

-Tyler M. Terry (HolyOrdersOtaku)


	8. Episode 7: Distory

_Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the Coven sank in the dark. Suspicion; a dagger in the night. A silent treachery that creeps from behind, forever unnoticed._

* * *

That night, the night that Pyrrha was hunted, Ironwood found himself in his office while his hunters were out doing their job. His desk was tidy and organized, and only tainted by the half empty glass of brandy that sat on a glass drink coaster to protect the delicate glossy finish of the modern desk. He stared at his phone, a palpable anticipation washing through his body while he waited. He had received a brief email earlier in the day that gave him pause.

[_The Rose may yet wilt._] was all that the message said, and, though cryptic as it was, he felt he understood its meaning; Ruby will soon degrade as a Hunter. _Just as Nora had,_ he thought. The phone began to ring, and carefully lifted it from the receiver, slowly putting it against his ear. "This is Ironwood," he greeted calmly.

There was silence on the other end for a moment. _"It's nice to speak with you again, James,"_ came a deep, almost raspy voice.

Ironwood was almost tempted to smile. Almost. "Qrow; to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

_"I'm calling to check on our dear Ruby, of course."_

He finally cracked a smile. "Feeling worried about your protégé, old man?"

_"You're not so young yourself, James," _Qrow retorted. _"There are...some _concerns_ that have been expressed throughout the organization, James. We are worried about a great many things. We are worried about the apparent outbreak of witches that Vale is currently experiencing..."_

"It's nothing out of the ordinary, I assure you. My team has been very efficient at capturing and disabling every witch we've come upon. In fact, they're currently on the trail of a witch as we speak."

_"There's also the concern about your team. Many of them are unawakened Hunters who have strong familial ties to known witches of the past. Jaune Arc, for example, hasn't had a normal human in his family since the days of the Church. There was once a time when it was considered a glorious achievement to hunt a witch from the Arc family."_

Ironwood felt himself growing irritated. "He is a Hunter, Qrow. Should the day come when he _does_ awaken, he will use his newfound power in the service of hunting Witches. I can promise you that."

Qrow seemed to be laughing to himself on the other end of the line. _"Then there's Ruby herself."_

"What could you possibly be worrying about her for? She's proven herself both here, and at Signal."

_"The concern is not about her skill as a Hunter...but her as a person. She's weak, James. She's always been compassionate and understanding to others. Normally this is a good thing, but sooner or later she's going to start to feel differently about witches. All it will take is the right push from the right situation, and she'll turn on us as a hunter, and she'll become a rogue witch herself. We have begun to make plans to eliminate her _before _that happens."_

Against his better will and judgment, Ironwood cracked a smile. "Surely you won't kill your own flesh and blood. Your sister died giving birth to Ruby, if the stories I hear are true."

_"True as they are, my sister had no way to know that the man she was in love with was a Witch. There's a reason that neither of them are alive today, James."_ Qrow took a deep breath. _"And finally, we have fears about the Aura. You may have proven it to be useful under the right conditions, but we don't know how effective it will really be should we try to use it all over the globe. There aren't enough true Hunters in the world, James. Most of us are only human."_

"The Aura is flawless. My Factory is constantly researching better variations upon the chemical makeup of the Aura, and they are close to designing a Pure Aura that will allow humans to protect themselves from a witch without the side effects." Ironwood felt his own voice growing sterner. "You can take that promise to the bank, Qrow."

_"Then, you will not mind bringing some of your samples to Headquarters and provide us with a demonstration?"_ Ironwood knew that this was a trick question; there was no right answer. _"If you say no, then we will sever your funding and disband Beacon. We will also mark your team as true witches if they resist the disbanding orders._

Ironwood had been beat. "I'll catch the earliest flight I can," he said.

Qrow laughed. _"No need. I have one already booked for you and your assistants, should you bring any. You're flight leaves at Midnight. I suggest you assemble your samples now."_ A low sounding click came through the speaker; Qrow had hung up.

Calmly, Ironwood set his phone back on the receiver and sat in silence for a few minutes. It was just after Nine PM now. Picking the phone up again, he dialed a new number. After a minute, someone finally answered. _"Hello?"_ came a higher pitched male voice.

"Oobleck, this is Ironwood," he said. "I'm on my way to the Factory. Assemble a set of samples of the newest Aura mixture for demonstration; we're going to Haven."

* * *

~Witch Hunter Ruby~

Episode 7: Distory

* * *

Morning came, and the hunters all found their way to work without incident, eagerly awaiting the coming tasks. Ruby, not having a ride of her own and forced to hire a cab to come to work due to her young age, was the last to arrive. She was surprised to see everyone once again crowded around Mercury's desk; not because of the crowding itself, but because of what appeared to be a large cardboard box that sat on the desk. "Come on, Mercury!" Jaune said pleadingly. "What's in the box? Tell us!"

"No!" Mercury snapped. "I'm not allowed to open it until everyone arrives!"

Ruby approached with a smile. "Well," she said to gain their attention. "It looks like I'm the last to arrive. What's up?"

"Oh," Mercury said in a calmer voice. "Good morning, Ruby. I'm afraid you have to wait as well."

"What do you mean?"

"The Boss hasn't come in yet."

Yang scoffed. "How would you know? He's always one of the first to arrive and is usually locked away in his office."

Mercury gave her a piercing glare. "I _live_ here, remember? I know when everyone comes and when everyone goes. And Ironwood left last night and hasn't come back yet."

Yang gave a sheepish grin. "O-oh yeah. Forgot about the whole 'homeless' thing."

Chief Torchwick was at his own desk for a few moments before he cleared his throat. "Just got an email from Mr. Ironwood. He's been called away to Headquarters for a few days." He smiled. "I guess that leaves me in charge."

The hunters stared at him for a few seconds in silence before they turned to Ren. "So, what are we doing today, Ren?" Jaune asked.

He cracked a small smile of his own. "Mercury, I assume you have an assignment for us?"

Roman's jaw dropped. "What about me? I'm second in command here!" Neo smiled nervously and patted him on the back to ease him back into the chair.

Mercury shrugged. "Nothing specific at the moment. We have some small, unconfirmed cases that the Factory investigators haven't looked into yet that we can check out."

"That'll work." He pointed at the box next. "Now, what's in the box?"

The technophile smiled widely as he pulled out a small pocket knife. "Let's find out." Cutting the box open, he opened the flaps slowly to add suspense. Slowly, his jaw dropped. "No way."

"What?" Jaune asked as he peaked over Mercury's shoulder. He started grinning widely. "God bless that Schnee woman." Inside the box were several smaller, white boxes with the Schnee logo. Each one of them actually had a small sticky note attached to it with personalized notes to each member of the team.

_For Jaune. Now you have a decent phone. _

_For Mercury. Take care of it. You'll have to pay for a replacement._

_For Blake. You can have it any color you like, as long as it's black._

_For Yang. Hope you like TeddyLoid~!_

_For Ren. Keep up the good work._

_For Neo. I added a grocery app. Hope you find it useful_

_For Roman. Be nice to everyone._

_For Ruby. Your actions change lives. Never forget that._

Ruby felt her heart skip a beat. "She...she really thinks that?" She felt a slight blush come upon her face.

Yang smiled and edged closer to Ruby, elbowing her gently in the arm. "Oooo~, someone's got butterflies in her stomach."

Ruby's blush grew more prominent, and she began to pout like a child. "I-I do not!"

Yang turned around. "Oh, look, Weiss dropped by again today!"

"What!" Ruby turned around...

And saw no one but Torchwick and Neo behind her. Her face was apparently plastered with disappointment, and Yang laughed. "Oh, you got it bad, huh?"

Ruby punched Yang as hard as she could, which wasn't very hard at all. "That was mean!"

This caused Yang to laugh even harder. "It's not my fault. You're the one with a school girl crush." She leaned in and whispered, "You know, it's usually the _boys_ who're into older women."

"She's not old!"

"Ruby, you're fifteen. She's what, twenty-one?"

"Twenty-three," Mercury chimed.

"That's almost a ten year gap. Face it; you're too young." Yang laughed again. "Jailbait, even."

Ruby was about to retaliate when Blake cleared her throat. "Leave her alone, Yang. Let the girl dream. It can't do any harm. Besides," she flashed Ruby a reassuring smile. "What if something works out between them?"

"Really?" Yang asked. "You're gonna encourage her to, you know, send Weiss to jail for like twenty years due to having a relationship with a minor?"

Blake shrugged. "That's only _if_ they have a relationship, and _if_ it ever gets brought up in a court of law. Let's be honest, assuming they _did_ form a relationship, are any of _us_ going to report it? We're considered ghosts in the eyes of the government. Hell, we basically get paid for professional kidnapping."

Yang opened her mouth to speak, but realized that she had no counter argument. "Well...when you put it like that." Blake nodded and tossed Yang the white box with her note attached to it. Yang panicked and almost didn't catch it. "Careful!" she exclaimed. "I could never afford to replace it if it broke!"

Blake chuckled softly before she _gently_ handed Ruby her box. "Are they that expensive?"

The black haired girl nodded. "They're about four hundred Lien for the basic package."

Ruby's eyes went wide, and her gaze darted to the box in her hand. "That's more than my paycheck!" she yelled.

"That's the _basic_," Blake explained. "Looks like Weiss gave us the best variants."

"How...how much are those?"

Blake paused and turned to Mercury for the answer. He already had his new phone out, which was painted bright silver, and he paused to answer the question. "You don't want to know." He continued to toy around with his phone's settings before activating it on his current number. "They're worth it though."

"Only because it's free," Yang muttered.

Mercury smiled. "You're not wrong."

Ruby removed the phone from the box and quickly activated it with her current phone number. As the system automatically pulled her few contacts from the cloud, she decided to look at the user interface. She found her way to her contacts page, and noticed a name that she previously hadn't seen on her phone before...

_Weiss Schnee: Private Cell..._

Ruby's heart skipped a beat once more. She tried her best to not be obvious as she watched Yang sift through her own contacts, likely making sure they were all transferred, and Ruby noticed that she didn't see Weiss's number on the blonde's list. _Did...did she give it _only_ to me?_ To find out, she decided on a small social experiment. "Hey, does anyone know Weiss's number or something? I'd like to thank her for the gift."

"Nope," came several voices.

"You could pay a visit to the Schnee Tech offices in the city here if you'd like," Mercury said. "Weiss is usually pretty good about seeing people at work, unless they've pissed her off."

"If you do go," Ren added. "I'm not driving you. I already drive you around enough as it is. You need to start using more cabs."

Ruby did her best to hide her surprise. _No one else has her number? Why?_ She decided not to let anyone know that she did, in fact, have the number. This, of course, involved a cover story. That cover story...

"Well," Ruby said with a small sigh. "Does anyone have the cab company's phone number?"

Ren sighed and went to nearby shelf. Moments later, he came back and dropped a heavy object onto Ruby's work desk. It was a relic of the past; a phone book. "Start reading," he said.

* * *

Ironwood stepped out of the cab with an exhausted sigh; he barely slept on the flight to Haven overnight. Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck exited behind him with a grey, metal briefcase, yet he didn't seem as exhausted as Ironwood. One of the many reasons James had hired the good Dr. Oobleck was because the man seemed to thrive on restlessness. The less Oobleck slept the more work he could seemingly complete. A part of Ironwood was deeply jealous of this strange ability. He almost thought that it could be a witch power, but that wasn't possible.

Because Oobleck is the genius behind the Aura chemical. Ironwood had come up with the idea, but had neither the skill, nor the scientific background to carry it forward until he met Oobleck. For the better part of two years the two men had worked tirelessly, until they finally had a breakthrough a year ago and created the first batch of Aura. They made pendants, loaded bullets, and organized Beacon to begin the Vale Witch Hunts.

However, Oobleck was a cautious man. In spite of his quick nature, and quick wit, he seemed to slow down when it came to unveiling his work. "Are you sure we should show them?" he asked Ironwood. "We're still months, possibly _years_ from perfecting the Aura."

Ironwood nodded. "I didn't have a choice, Bartholomew. It was either show them our progress, or watch my life's work crumble. I'm not ready to give up Beacon. Not yet."

Oobleck smiled. "Yet?" he asked, teasingly.

Ironwood smiled in return. "They'll become obsolete in due time, my friend. But for now, they still serve a purpose."

The two men stood in front of a seemingly uninteresting building; it was rectangular in shape, bland in appearance, and was made of boring, grey concrete with no decoration, say for the short grass that had recently been cut. It wasn't any taller than a single story. "Shall we?" Ironwood asked as he lead the way into the structure. Upon entering, they were inside of a bright, white room with a set of metal sliding elevator door behind a glass desk; a woman sat at the desk. "Good morning," he greeted the woman.

She glanced up from her paperwork and smiled. "Mr. Ironwood. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"It certainly has."

"Go on in," she said, motioning towards the door behind her. "Mister Qrow is waiting for you in the Demo Room."

Ironwood nodded and lead Oobleck to the elevator. Entering, he pulled out an ID card and swiped it. "_Welcome back, Executive Developer James Ironwood,"_ said a female, digital voice. The doors closed, and the elevator began to move. You wouldn't know it by how it felt, though. The elevator system was flawless, and left one feeling as though they weren't even moving until the door opened to a different area. "Is this your first time in Headquarters?" he asked Oobleck.

Oobleck nodded, wiping sweat from his brow. "I didn't expect it to be so...inconspicuous."

Ironwood chuckled. "Well, the public generally doesn't know about witches. Only a handful of the world's governments know. Vale being one of them, of course. God knows Headquarters isn't giving us all of our funding."

"Aren't they funding the Aura research?"

"That's about it. They give us a list of possible hunters, we scout them, hire them, and then they make us come up with our own way to pay them." Ironwood shook his head. "Thank God for politicians."

"Most people would disagree," Oobleck joked.

"Oh, I certainly hate them. Bunch of lying scum bags, like the higher ups here in Headquarters. But, unlike Headquarters, if you scare them enough they'll do anything."

Oobleck laughed. "Let me guess; _Fund us, or witches will destroy your government?_"

Ironwood shrugged. "More or less." The elevator made a low humming sound, and a slight ding. _"Welcome to Headquarters"_ said the digital voice, and the doors opened. Stepping out, they came face to face with four older men and women standing in a great warehouse sized room; Qrow stood among the group. The four had been chatting, but paused when they saw the elevator open.

"Ah," Qrow said with a smile on his face. His hair was graying just above his ears, and the rest of his head was a dark, raven black. His eyes were tired, and showed his age, but his wrinkled face held a polite, happy smile. "Welcome back, James!" He gave Ironwood a friendly hug and handshake that was partially returned. "And, who is your guest that you've brought with you?"

Oobleck flashed a smile and extended his free hand. "Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, sir. Pleasure to meet you."

Qrow nodded, shaking his hand. "Likewise, Bartholomew." He returned his focus to Ironwood. "So, James, what do you say we grab some coffee? Or perhaps some breakfast? Maybe we could..."

"With all due respect, _old friend_," Ironwood said, trying to not grit his teeth. "I would like to be back in Vale before the end of the day. I don't like to leave Beacon unless I have to."

Qrow gave a slight frown, but quickly smiled again. "Very well. This way gentlemen, and you can show us..." He paused, glancing at the case in Oobleck's hand. "You can show us this _marvelous _concoction that you're so proud of." Extending his hand, he gestured towards an open space within the room. The room itself was full of people, both hunters and scientists, each testing or refitting various forms of equipment; this level of Headquarters, for it was not the only one nor was it the lowest, was a giant Research and Development center.

Ironwood nodded and followed with Oobleck in tow.

"Perhaps," one of the women said. "You could enlighten us as to why you sent one of the Devil's Children to our loading docks this morning?"

Next to the area where they would be demonstrating the Aura, standing straight up, was one of the Factory's Sarcophaguses designed for holding witches. Ironwood smiled. "A test such as this is best done with a fresh catch, wouldn't you say?" He nodded to Oobleck, who wheeled a small cart next to him and placed the briefcase on it. "It should be worth noting that this demonstration will be the most in depth in terms of showing the Aura's effects on a witch. This witch was not subdued or sedated by my hunters. She surrendered willingly."

With an order from Ironwood, the nearby workers unlocked the Sarcophagus. Inside, Pyrrha Nikos almost fell out, caught off guard by the sudden release of the locks. "Is...is this where you're going to keep me?" she asked.

Ironwood shook his head. "No. That is...somewhere else. I apologize-"

The other man next to Qrow scoffed. "Apologizing to a _witch_," he muttered.

Ironwood ignored him. "I apologize, Ms. Nikos, but I'm afraid that I'm going to be using you in a demonstration."

Fear entered into her eyes. "Will...will it hurt?"

"It'll sting," he replied. "But then you'll feel numb. The purpose of this..._product_, we'll call it, is to _sedate_ witches and subdue their power." He said this loud enough so that all present could hear him. Ironwood smiled. "Ms. Nikos here has the power to manipulate metals. Do you happen to have some scrap metal, or something of the sort?" The women and the man were about openly protest where Ironwood was going with this, but Qrow raised a hand to silence them. He approached another metal cart and kicked it, forcing it to roll in front of Pyrrha. Ironwood nodded. "Thank you. Ms. Nikos, if you'd be so kind, please display your powers to my _collegues._"

Uncertain, Pyrrha did as she was told. She lifted the cart with her powers, and then crushed it violently, before dropping it back to the ground with a loud metallic _thud_. Everyone in the room became nervous; never before had a live witch stood within the confines of Headquarters, let alone be allowed to use their powers. "Now," Ironwood continued. "Can you sense metal?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Qrow, don't you have a metal rib?"

Everyone was shocked. "How _dare_ you ask Qrow to participate in this farce!" one of the women yelled.

Qrow simply smiled. "I do." He stepped forward. "I am also an unawakened Hunter. I'm sure that's not a coincidence," he muttered.

"It's not." He snapped his fingers, and Oobleck opened the briefcase to retrieve a glass vial in the shape of a crucifix hanging from a string. He handed it to Qrow, who looked it over with genuine curiosity. "That is our Aura Pendant. Our Hunters wear them to combat the power of a witch. Go on, Qrow, put it on."

"Very well," the graying man said. He slipped the pendant over his head and stood still, waiting.

"Now, Ms. Nikos, can you feel the metal in Qrow's ribcage?"

"Yes," she said.

Ironwood smiled. "Rip it from his chest."

"What!?" the other older individuals cried all at once. Once again, Qrow frowned at them and raised a hand to ease them.

"Go ahead," he said to Pyrrha.

Nodding, the red head focused her power onto Qrow's metal rib. Try as she might though, nothing happened. She grew tired and almost collapsed from the strain as she released her power. "I...I can't," she said. "Something's blocking me."

Ironwood held back a small curse. _I almost wish the Aura had been a dud_. "See," he said loudly. "The Aura works to protect its wearer!" He reached and pulled out a sleek, brand new Aura Gun model; it was bigger than the two models used by Beacons hunters currently. "With the newest formula comes the newest model of Aura Pistols. The APMk 003: gas powered, like the previous models, but it contains a more powerful CO2 cartridge to fire larger caliburs at higher velocities, making it harder for the Witch to use their powers to swat them away. It has been known to happen, though rarely. Still, we don't take any chances at the Factory or at Beacon. So, we've designed this to be our best model yet." He handed it to Qrow. "I trust your aim is still good."

Pyrrha was afraid, but she knew this was coming. Qrow whistled as he accepted the firearm. "Impressive. You machined the parts precisely, I see." He unloaded the magazine which contained both the ammo and the CO2 cartridge. He marvled at the glass tipped bullets filled with Aura. "Those must be tricky to synthesize."

"We ran into a few issues early on with the APMk X, the prototype. We've improved our manufacturing techniques and have avoided those problems altogether for the Mk 001 and the Mk 002," Oobleck explained.

Qrow nodded his approval and reloaded the firearm before taking aim. Squeezing the trigger without hesitation, the gun made a low _psssshht _sound as the CO2 propelled the round, which impacted Pyrrha's chest.

"Gyah!" she exclaimed, clutching her chest. The pain lasted only for a moment before she began to feel numb, and soon tired. She could barely stand, and so knelt on one knee.

"Impressive," Qrow said once again. "But...how does it hold up for a _normal_ human?" He gave Ironwood a piercing stare. "I remember you said that humans who used the Aura experienced...side effects."

Ironwood nodded. "We haven't quite narrowed down the issue," he admitted. "It will take some more time to work all of the kinks out of it, but we're confident that someday soon, the Aura will be the weapon of choice for _all_ Hunters, and not just the unawakened."

Qrow nodded. "Let's see what these _side effects_ are," he said. He called over a young man. "This is Fox," Qrow explained. "One of our newest Hunters in training. Son, would you be kind enough to test out this new equipment?"

The young man nodded. "I'd be honored to, sir." Qrow handed him the gun, and Fox turned and pointed at Pyrrha. He was about to squeeze the trigger when the firing chamber started to glow a low green color. Confused, Fox removed the magazine and saw that every Aura bullet was glowing.

"Put it down!" Oobleck exclaimed.

Before he could obey, Fox began to feel light headed. Stumbling about, he dropped the weapon and the magazine, and collapsed onto the ground in a seizure. Nearby medical staff rushed to aid him. Ironwood looked away, afraid that this would happen.

Qrow smiled a dark, cruel smile. "One more year," he said. "I'll give you one more year to try out your little _toy_. After that..." He pulled out a .45 caliber, pearl grip 1911 and aimed it at the weakened Pyrrha's head. Barely awake, she saw the gun and tried to scream for mercy. Qrow pulled the trigger, and Pyrrha's brains splattered the floor as she fell limp to the ground. Ironwood couldn't look at her; he felt ashamed. "Go."

Oobleck carefully retrieved the demo samples and returned them to the case, and the two men turned to leave.

"One more thing," Qrow said in a commanding voice. "Don't you ever, _ever_, bring another witch into my Headquarters."

* * *

_Song: Distory-Soundwitch_

**Author's Note**

It's been a while since the last one, hasn't it? Well, here's Episode 7. I hope you guys are still enjoying it. Sorry for killing Pyrrha, and I'm fairly certain that Qrow isn't this much of a dick in the actual show, but I needed some sort of "antagonist". I say it like that because he's not the _main_ enemy. In fact, there is no "primary antagonist." Each character is good, and each character is evil in their own way. Or, at least I hope I'm portraying them that way.

Not much else to say, really. Also, I tried to remember if I've ever mentioned Weiss's age in this AU before. If I have, someone please remind me so I can correct it. I would like to stay consistent if at all possible. Also, I imagine Schnee Tech to be like Apple...someone should photoshop the Schnee emblem onto an iPhone for me. That'd be great.

Next time, we listen to Baby Metal!

Fun Fact: I work at a fast food place now. So, I have the wonkiest work schedule I've ever seen. I'm so used to Monday-Friday, 8-3:30 jobs that it's kinda weird to me.

Oh well.

Till next time!


	9. Episode 8: Head Bangya

_Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the Coven sank in the dark. Marathon; a race to the finish. Time slowly runs out, leaving many to fend for themselves._

* * *

Ironwood slammed the door of the taxi as he climbed into the backseat. Dr. Oobleck slowly and nervously slid in from the other side. "Take us to the airport," Ironwood said harshly to the cab driver. The driver must have been smart, for he didn't say a word back as he nodded and put the car into drive. The two men sat silently in the back seat for several minutes as Ironwood stared at Headquarters, slowly getting smaller and smaller in the distance. Finally, he slammed a closed fist down onto the arm rest in the middle of the seat. "Damn them!" he said. He looked at Oobleck with rage in his eyes. "That man thinks he can control us as he pleases. _One more year_ he says."

"James," Oobleck said in a lower tone than his supervisor. "I sincerely doubt that we can make that much progress in a year. I mean, we've discovered so much in such a short time, but lately our progress has slowed tremendously. Honestly," he paused. "We may have already discovered all there is to find out about the Aura. This project...it may have been doomed from the start."

Ironwood glared at Oobleck. "I refuse to believe that," he said. "We've come so far! We've made our profession more humane, and he just..." he paused, glancing at the cab driver who was clearly listening. "He blatantly breaks _our rule_ right in front of us." He looked Oobleck in the eyes. "I'm not giving up."

Oobleck nodded with a slight smile. "Then neither will I. I said it _may_ have been doomed. As a scientist, it's my obligation to see this through as far as I can."

Ironwood smiled and shook his friend's hand. "We have a year, my friend. Let's prove those bastards wrong."

"I have one question," Oobleck added. "Do we tell your team about Pyrrha?"

Ironwood shook his head. He whispered in a low voice, "They don't know about what we do with the witches we capture." He turned to stare out of the cab's window. "Why should this be any different?"

* * *

~With Hunter Ruby~

Episode 8: Head Bangya

* * *

Hindsight is a cruel mistress in Ruby's mind. Sure, no one thought to question her when she asked for the cab company's phone number, but if any of her coworkers had bother to think about it, they'd have realized that she already knew the number. Being fifteen years old and thus too young to drive, she had to get around somehow when she went shopping from her apartment. Ren and the others only drove her around when it was most convenient at the time. In that regard, she had to keep up appearances and search that massive phone book for the number just to save face.

But she was probably over thinking it.

She found herself in front of the Schnee Tech office building as she paid the cab driver. Climbing out, she stared at the building in wonder as the cab drove away. The building was massive; at least thirty to forty stories tall. _Do they need a structure this tall?_ Ruby asked herself. Nervous, she gulped hard as she approached the door.

As soon as she entered, she felt out of place. Every man and woman that walked around the main lobby was wearing business attire; dress shirts, dress skirts, dress pants, ties, sports coats, etcetera. She, however, was wearing black boots, black cargo pants, a red button up shirt, and her black uniform trench coat. _Why is this even part of our uniform?_ she thought to herself. _It's so hot!_ Unsure, confused, and a little lost, Ruby stood in front of the door way without a clue as to what to do or where to go.

Before she could venture deeper into the building, a security guard approached her. "Can I help you miss?" he asked, startling Ruby.

"Ah...oh, Um...I was wondering if maybe I could speak to Weiss Schnee? If that's, you know, okay?"

He raised an eyebrow. "How old are you miss?"

"Uh...fifteen."

He shook his head. "Miss Schnee doesn't have time to waste on kids. Go back to school, little girl."

"Uh," Ruby said nervously. "I technically already graduated."

"So you're a smart kid," he said, now adding sarcasm to his tone. "Go back home to your mom then. This is no place for a kid."

_Oh, are we going there?_ Ruby asked mentally. _Bring. It. On!_ Ruby steeled her nerves and cleared her throat. "_Excuse_ me?" she asked, adding an irritated tone. "Do you have any idea why I'm even here? I'm here on official business, mister!" She pointed at the insignia on her jacket. "You think I'd wear this coat for fashion? No, this is my work uniform. I'm here for work, and I don't know how your boss feels about it when you _don't_ do an errand, but my boss _really_ hates it when we don't do our jobs!" Pulling out her new phone, she showed Weiss's number to the guard. "I have Miss Schnee's phone number as well. I'm under the impression she doesn't dish that out to just anyone, right?"

The guard was nervous, clearly, but he didn't relent. "Well, if you're here for _business_, then why don't you explain what that business is, _little girl_?"

"I'm part of the private investigation firm that worked Adam Taurus's murder case. I'm here to discuss it with Miss Schnee, who's considered an interested party in the case! I am not at liberty to discuss it with anyone else, not even her employees!" She crossed her arms triumphantly. "So, do you want to let me in, or do I need to call Miss Schnee and make _her_ come to me? For the record, I came so that she wouldn't have to leave the comfort of her own office, but if you _really_ want to do this, then..."

"Fine," he relented at long last. "Take the elevator to the thirty-fifth floor. Talk to Velvet Scarlatine; she's Miss Schnee's secretary."

Ruby smiled. "Thank you." She moved beyond the guard and paused briefly. _Now to take that knife and twist it,_ she thought. "Also, for the record, mother is _dead_. Died giving birth to me, asshole!" She wasn't lying. She saw the guard slump over depressingly, and Ruby walked away with a smile, only feeling a little terrible for using her dead mother in such a way.

She followed the security guards instruction and rode the elevator up. Upon arriving on the thirty-fifth floor, she was surprised to find that it was a space filled with cubicles. She expected this area to be executive offices and conference rooms, but she could only see two such places on the floor, both of which had windows. Everyone working in the room paused to see who she was and stared curiously at her. Out of all of them, Ruby only recognized one.

Velvet came rushing over to greet her with a limp. "Hello, Miss Rose," she said. She looked worse for wear. It was just last night that she had been saved by Pyrrha, Ruby, and Weiss. She was covered in bruises and cuts, and Ruby knew that beneath her clothes were bullet wounds. Her left arm was even in a sling. Why she was even at work was beyond Ruby.

Ruby gave her a concerned look. "Shouldn't you be at the hospital?" she asked in a whisper. "Or at home at least."

Velvet paused before nodding. "I...I don't want to talk about it in front of my coworkers," she whispered back. "I assume you're here to see Weiss?"

Ruby immediately noticed the lack of formality that Velvet had with Weiss, instead opting for familiarity. "Yeah, I wanted to speak with her."

Velvet nodded. "Please, follow me." She lead Ruby through the cubicles and towards a windowed room near the far wall. Weiss was behind the window talking on the phone. Just as Velvet approached, Weiss motioned with her hand for her to come it, not truly paying attention to who was with her secretary. Velvet opened the door and stepped inside with Ruby following closely. She was about to return to her cubicle when Ruby motioned for otherwise.

"Can you stay?" she asked in a hushed whisper. Velvet hesitated before she nodded, closing the door behind her.

Weiss was still ignorant of who all was in the room as she chatted away angrily on the phone. "I don't care _what_ they want, because it's daytime robbery as far as I'm concerned. We will _not_ pay exorbitant amounts of money for the resources we need...yes, I _am_ aware that gold is used for motherboards and circuitry. I've studied the schematics of _every_ product we make! I also keep an eye on the markets. Do you know how much gold actually costs? We can buy it from the average person at half the price of what these morons are asking for! You tell them to drop their prices, or I go to a different supplier! I will not be known as the woman who raised the prices of this company's products because _one man _was a greedy, disgusting, mouth breathing imbecile! What do you mean he won't negotiate with you? Kick him in the balls if that's what it takes to make him listen! He would rather speak to _me_?" Weiss laughed a dark, sinister, almost sadistic laugh. "You'd best tell him that I'm the _last _person he'd want to negotiate with. Get it done. Bye."

She pulled the phone away from her ear, and Ruby could see it in her slow, articulate motions that she desperately wanted to throw the phone out of her window. Taking a deep breath, she hung the phone up and turned to address Velvet. "Now, what do you need, Velv...oh!" she exclaimed, finally noticing Ruby. "Oh, my goodness! I'm so sorry you had to hear that. That's not a side of me I like to let out."

Ruby laughed nervously. "Don't worry about it. I've just, you know, made a promise to myself to never get on your bad side."

"I wouldn't worry about it if I were you," Weiss said with a smile. "You're far too sweet to get on my nerves. Not too bad, at least." She scooted closer to the edge of her desk and rested her elbows on the top of it. She gestured for the younger girl to sit. "How can I help you? I trust you got my gift?"

Ruby nodded as she found a seat. "Yeah. I, uh, wanted to come by and thank you personally for the phones."

"You didn't have to do that," Weiss said. "I know how busy you are hunting..." she hesitated, remembering Velvet's presence. "Well, I know how busy you can be."

Ruby nodded. "I know I didn't have to." She pulled up Weiss's number on her phone and showed it to the business woman. "Especially since you so cleverly left me your cell phone number. Only on my phone, even."

Weiss had a faint blush on her face. "You...you didn't ask the others if they had it, did you?"

Ruby nodded. "In a way, yeah I did. But, they don't know that I have your number at all. I asked under the pretense that I wanted to thank you." Ruby also blushed. "Actually, my being here right now is kind of to make that cover story true. Sorry." She glanced out of the window behind her and towards the elevator. "Also, can I make a complaint? Your security guy downstairs was being a real jerk. I mean, I had to lie to him about being here for an investigation just to get up here."

"I see," Weiss said with a sigh. "I really don't want to fire him. I'll have a word with him later."

"Oh, no I don't want you to fire him. God knows how hard it is to find a job these days."

Weiss nodded with a smile. She looked up at Velvet. "I'm sorry, I never properly introduced you two. Ruby, this is Velvet Scarlatina. She's my secretary and good friend. Velvet, this is Ruby. She's one of the ones who brought Adam's murderer to justice."

Velvet nodded solumnly. "And she arrested Pyrrha," she muttered.

Ruby felt saddened. "Velvet, I'm sorry. I truly am. If it were up to me, the whole thing would have been forgotten about and Pyrrha would still be free. But, she's...she's dangerous."

Velvet nodded. "I know. If it were the police or federal operatives, I wouldn't have been allowed to say goodbye to her. You at least gave me that much."

Ruby stood and was about to put a hand on Velvet's shoulders. "Wait," Weiss said. She stood, approached the window that looked into the rest of the office floor, and closed the blinds. She did the same to her glass door, and she bolted the lock before returning to her seat. "Now, we can speak a little more...privately."

Ruby nodded, and she gave Velvet a small hug. Nervous and unsure, Velvet accepted and returned the gesture. "Velvet, I am truly sorry. But you've been through a lot in the last few days. You should be at home, resting."

Weiss nodded. "I tried to tell her the same thing." She stood once again and approached Velvet. "I'm worried about your health, sweetie. You were abused, raped, and shot. Work isn't that important, and you know _I'm _not forcing you to stay."

"I know that," Velvet said sadly. "But...home is where _she_ was supposed to be. I was in my apartment for less than fifteen minutes this morning. In that time, I grabbed my money and my clothes and left. There was too much of her presence there. I just...can't handle it right now."

Weiss was about to speak, but Ruby interrupted her. "It may not be very appropriate of me to ask," Ruby said, almost without thinking. "But I live by myself. Headquarters paid for my apartment, and frankly it's too big for just me. If you'd like...and you don't have to...you could, maybe stay with me for a while."

Velvet was shocked. "No! No, I couldn't possible impose on you. I have plenty of money to pay for a motel for a few nights. I can..."

Weiss smiled. "Velvet, honey; you need more than a few days. You need a few weeks, I think. I think you should do it. Live with Ruby for a while to set your mind at ease." She gave Ruby a beautiful smile that made the younger girl's stomach twist into delightful knots. "She's got that kind of personality; the kind that lets you know everything is okay. She'll keep you safe, Velvet."

Ruby blushed heavily. "I...I don't know about all _that_."

"You're far too modest, Ruby," Weiss said. "Also, Velvet, ultimately it's your choice, but I honestly don't think it's healthy for you to come into work with your injuries. You rarely take vacation days; maybe you should this time."

Velvet sat there in thought for what felt like an eternity. She looked to Ruby and smiled faintly. "If it's okay with you...I'll accept your offer." Ruby and Weiss both smiled. She turned to her employer next and continued. "And, if it's okay with you, I'd like to decline the offer for vacation. I think I should work."

Weiss sighed. "Fine. I won't force you. On _one_ condition. Take the rest of today off. Get_ a little_ rest, and then you can come back to work tomorrow." Velvet paused and finally nodded. "Good." Weiss sat down and started browsing her computer. "Do you have the proper furnishings in your apartment to accommodate my friend, Ruby?"

The younger girl laughed nervously. "Not really. I was gonna sleep on my couch and let Velvet take my bed."

"Hm," Weiss said. "Rustic, but unacceptable. I'll have a truck deliver some furniture for Velvet. A bed, dresser, maybe an end table to go next to the bed."

"No," Velvet said. "Miss Schnee, you don't need to do that." She adopted the more formal form to address Weiss now.

"I am doing everything I can to help you, Velvet," Weiss said with loving sternness. "You're not just my employee; I consider everyone on the thirty-fifth floor to be extended family, and you know that." She turned to Ruby. "Velvet isn't allowed to drive with her injuries. I'll pay for your cab as well."

Ruby nodded. "I suppose I'll take the rest of the day off as well." She turned and paused. "What do the other worker's here know about Velvet's injuries?"

Weiss smiled. "Remember when..." she hesitated, once again remembering Velvet's presence. "When our car was attacked? Everyone here thinks that she was in the car with me. Officially, my car wasn't attacked, but was in an accident. I wasn't terribly injured, but Velvet took the brunt of the wreck. That's our story." She turned to Velvet. "Well, go on. Get out. Rest. That's a direct order from your boss."

Velvet nodded. "Yes ma'am."

She and Ruby walked out together. Upon entering a cab and instructing the driver where to go, Ruby called Ren and informed him that she was taking the rest of the day off. She smiled at Velvet and put a hand on her shoulder. "You're going to be fine, Velvet," she said in a calm voice.

Velvet smiled back. "Thank you."

* * *

Weiss sat alone in her office. She had just placed the order and paid for the furniture that would soon be delivered to Ruby's apartment. She sighed, happy that Velvet would get at least one day to rest and heal. _She needs more_, she thought to herself. She stuck her hands into her jacket pocket and felt something that she'd almost forgotten about. Pulling it out, she stared at the crucifix shape that was the Aura pendant. She was still worried about the possible side effects, yet she still wanted to keep it with her to stay safe.

After all, she didn't know when she might need it again.

* * *

_Song: Head Bangya-Baby Metal_

**Author's Note**

I just feel so happy when I listen to Baby Metal. Surprised at the quick release of Episode 8? SO AM I! I don't like to joke on April 1st, so instead I devoted all day to writing stories! I managed to get two out, but this is an hour and a half late; it's now April 2nd, 2015 as I type this. Oh well.

Velvet is slightly more important in the story now, but not majorly so. Not yet, anyway. Ironwood is clearly plotting something, Weiss is worried she might need the Aura pendant, and Ruby is...well, being a fifteen year old. Full of piss and vinegar! "My mom is dead!" What a line. That's the kinda stuff that makes you feel like a jerk, right?

Well, leave a review and let me know what you think. Yes, that would be oh so nice if you could do that. I like reviews. They fill me with joy and understanding. Even the negative ones! (Shout out to the Guest who told me to f**k off recently. Thanks for the tip! :D)

Speaking of which, friendly reminder of my . I'm sure your tired of hearing me talk about it by now, but, hey, I gotta mention it. You can find the link to it on my profile page.

Till next time!


	10. Episode 9: Buikikaesu

_Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the Coven sank in the dark. Revelation; a forgotten history. The veil is cast aside, allowing the shadows to break in the light._

* * *

The lights flickered in the hallway, giving off a very ominous feeling. The tunnels had been forgotten by the municipal government. Some time recently, a green haired witch by the name of Emerald was hunted in these very tunnels; the utility access tunnels in the slums of downtown Vale. A man sat solitarily inside of the tunnel wearing shaggy clothes. His white short sleeved button up shirt was torn at the edges and left open to reveal is abdomen, his blue jeans were torn off at the calves, and he wore a weathered pair of sneakers; he was homeless and this was where he slept. No one bothered him here because no one really knew about these tunnels.

He slept peacefully for most of the night, but he had no way to know what time it was. It may have been night, and it may have been morning; the fluorescent light bulbs that somehow hadn't blown were his only source of light. He was torn from his restful slumber suddenly by a whispering voice.

_So alone are thee, _the voice of a woman said. _Thou reminds me of a time long since passed in mine own life._

"Wh-what?" he asked groggily. He looked around and saw no one. Standing up, he balled up his fists. "Who's there? Show yourself?"

_I have no need to show myself_¸ the voice said calmly.

"I don't have anything!" the man yelled. "Nothing you can steal from me! Leave me alone!"

The voice cackled, revealing a somewhat aged sound in its throat; the disturbing sound of a crazed elderly woman. _I shall not take anything from thee. In that stead, I wish to give thee a gift._

"What?" the man asked. A sudden wave of nausea came over him and he fell to his knees. "Aaagh!" he screamed before the feeling left his body and he began to pant heavily. "What was that?"

The voice laughed again. _Use it well._

* * *

~Witch Hunter Ruby~

Episode 9: Buikikaesu

* * *

A week had passed since Velvet had moved in with Ruby. Her wounds were mostly healed, and her doctor had given her the "okay" to allow her to drive her car once again. Her mood had greatly improved in that week thanks to the young hunter, though the truth of her position at Beacon was a closely guarded secret to the timid office worker. Even her powers were kept in check inside of her apartment, which Ruby was somewhat grateful for: it forced her to not rely on them for simple tasks such as lighting a candle, thus risking becoming addicted to the flames.

Ruby's apartment was originally meant for her and her alone, but Headquarters had gone overboard when they purchased it; it was a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment with a massive living area, a dining room, and a complete kitchen, as well as a fully furnished laundry room. As she had explained to Weiss and Velvet a week ago, it was simply too big for her to live in by herself.

As promised, Weiss had purchased furnishings to be added to Ruby's guest bedroom, and she even picked up Velvet's clothes from her own apartment and had them delivered. Ruby was impressed by the business woman's resolve. All that being said, even Ruby was happy to have a roommate.

On this morning, she awoke to an aroma that she swore she could never get used to. Rising from her comfortable bed, she glanced over to her work phone; it was seven in the morning. Standing up, she approached her closet and got dressed. She had to admit that since she moved to Vale, her work load had increased quite a bit. Even though they had plenty of days where no witch activity would occur, the hunts they _did_ participate in would often drag on for days, and many of them would involve calling her out in the pitch black of night and pulling her from her restful slumber. When she first moved here, she preferred to wear loose dresses and skirts to give her better freedom of movement, but those took effort to put on. Her erratic hunting schedule made her particularly lazy in the mornings, and she found herself purchasing more suits than dresses. Suits also took time, but it was better to spend five minutes figuring out her red tie than it was to spend almost half an hour preparing a dress; she was not the most efficient girl when it came to dresses.

Dress shirt button and tucked in, she quickly fitted the red tie around her neck, now done with practiced ease. _I can see why Blake wears these all the time._ Nodding her approval, she opened her bedroom door and found the source of the smell; Velvet stood in the kitchen preparing a pot of hot coffee. "Oh," she said. "Did I wake you?"

"No," Ruby said. "I just kinda...wake up, you know? I don't have a very efficient sleep schedule."

"Being in law enforcement must do that to you," Velvet commented, remaining blissfully ignorant of Ruby's witch hunting. Gesturing towards to coffee pot, she asked, "Would you like a cup?"

Ruby smiled slightly. "Absolutley."

"Good." The pot dripped its last drop of coffee, and the office worker picked it up and poured two mugs of the fresh morning nectar that drove the lives of so many people in the world. "I also cooked a simple omelet for you."

Ruby accepted the cup and stared in wonder at Velvet. "If you keep this up, I won't let you move out."

Velvet laughed. "I'm sorry. I know you have a career of your own and that you're out of school, but I remind myself everyday that you're still a child. I can't help but want to take care of you and help out."

Ruby frowned. "_I'm _supposed to be the one helping _you_, Velvlet."

It was Velvet's turn to frown. "I know. I'm sorry. I sound ungrateful, don't I?"

"Not at all. Just remember that just because you're living with me it doesn't mean that you need to work for rent or anything. I don't _owe_ any rent. As I said, Headquarters _bought_ this place for me." Ruby went into thought. "Now that I think on it, I'll bet it's because I'm fifteen."

"A fact that surprises me every time I remember that it's true," Velvet commented. "You want me to drive you to work today?"

Ruby was about to decline, but thought better of it. "Sure. That'd be lovely. Let me eat real quick, then I'll grab my work coat and we'll be on our way."

* * *

Mercury sipped at a cup of coffee as he watched his monitor intently. He had been doing research all night long and barely got any sleep. Feeling stiff in his joints, he stood and stretched. Making his way to the window, he looked outside and sipped from his mug once more, allowing himself a moment of rest and relaxation. He savored the flavour of the dark liquid. _God bless Neo. No one makes coffee quite like she does_. He paused in that thought._ Well...maybe Militia._

Glancing down towards the road, he saw a white four door car pull up and stop. _A visitor?_ He got an answer when he saw Ruby step out of the passenger side door. She turned and waved to the driver, whom upon very, _very_ close inspection Mercury could barely make out that it was a woman. He smiled a coy smile.

"What's up with that creepy look?" came the voice of Jaune from behind.

Mercury chuckled lightly. "It's nothing."

"Ah. So, we got any cases today?"

"Not yet. But we've not been terribly busy this past week. Give it a few minutes. I'm sure something will turn up."

"How do you figure?"

"Because I'm convinced that if we go longer than five days without a witch sighting then the world must be about to end."

"Hm...job security? Or end of the world?" Jaune said in a joking tone. "Tough choice."

Blake and Yang entered the room from the elevator, with Ren trailing not far behind them. After a few minutes of the group making casual conversation, Ruby entered at long last to join her coworkers. The work day seemed to be at a slow start.

* * *

The blonde haired man casually strolled into the building, feeling very sure and confident. Today was playing out very, _very_ differently from how he thought it would be. Last night he thought he'd just laze about as usual. Unable to find a job, he planned to find a corner to beg for money on, or should he get hungry he would just steal from the local farmer's market. That's how he always spent his days.

But then the voice came to him in the night. Everything changed in that moment. His life was turning around. He could help himself to whatever he wanted.

"Hello," came a woman's voice from behind the counter. "Welcome to the Bank of Vale. How may I help you today, sir?"

He smiled. "I'd like to make a withdrawal."

"Alright, and how much are you taking from your account today?"

He reached into his pocket and swiftly pulled out a pistol. "How much can you fit into a bag?"

The woman was startled, but her training kicked in and she tried to reach for the alarm. Her arm quickly reached outward...

And the man's arm grabbed and stopped her. It was odd, because it was his right hand; the same hand that held the gun. She looked up and saw five of him standing in front of her; one held the gun, the others stared menacingly at her. "I wouldn't try that again," they all said at once with the same voice. "We'll be taking that money now."

* * *

Militia sat relaxed in her empty cafe. Really, she wondered why she ever agreed to call it the Malachite Cafe; it was much bigger than a typical cafe, the menu contained more than the typical cafe, and how many cafe's actually had a bar for serving alcohol? Part of her wished that she received more business, but she had enough money flowing in the both keep the restaurant open and to live comfortably. As was the arrangement she had with Beacon. She sighed. Living the double life of a waitress _and_ an informant did make her daily life somewhat stressful, but it was only rarely that she acted as the latter. Even then, it was always Ren who came to her, never any of the other Hunters.

She remembered her last _business_ exchange with Ren; it was a couple of months back, before Weiss ever treated them to dinner. He had come asking about something that seemed very personal to him. Militia was very good at keeping secrets, so Ren was able to trust her with finding the answers to his questions. But that wasn't the part that she remembered most.

It was his parting line as he paid for his tea. He had donned his coat and he made a _request_. Not an official request for her job, but a personal one for her to act upon of her own accord if the need ever came. _I know what it's like to have someone close to you be something else...if you ever seen that person, don't hesitate to call me. _

She smiled. _You clever man, Lie Ren. No one else knows, yet you saw right through me somehow,_ she thought. Sighing to herself, she decided to pour herself a glass of wine. The Merlot was quite nice, so she popped the cork and helped herself. _I pay for it, so why shouldn't I indulge every now and then_.

It was a few minutes later, when a delivery man entered that she felt surprised. At first she thought he was a customer, so she quickly hid the wine behind the counter. "How may I help you today, sir? Would you like lunch?"

He smiled politely, almost giving her an apology. "Actually, I'm here for work, Ma'am. I have a delivery for a...Miss Militia Malachite?"

"That would be me."

Nodding he handed her a brown envelope and a clipboard to sign. Confused, she signed and the man went about his business. She stared at the envelope curiously. _Who could have sent me something? What could it be?_ Sipping once more of her wine glass, she pulled the tab to tear into the cardboard envelope and pulled out the paper within. There was a scrap of paper and a photograph.

The photograph stunned her. Only two copies of it existed; the other was resting peacefully on the wall behind her. It was a photo of her and her sister, standing together with mirrored smiles. Setting it down, she read the scrap paper several times, allowing the words to sink into her soul.

_"I'll be visiting soon," ._

Ren's words echoed in her mind. _If you ever see that person...don't hesitate to call me._

Without thinking, she pulled out her phone and dialed his number.

_"Hello?"_ he asked.

Taking a deep breath, she calmly said, "She's back."

* * *

Ironwood put the phone down. He had been standing in the office area conversing with Torchwick when it rang; the number on the caller ID was the Vale Police Department. He turned to Mercury with a grim expression. "We may have a witch sighting on our hands, and this one was a little more than public."

"Just great," Ren said dryly. "How many witnesses?"

"Hard to say at the moment, but initial reports indicate that there are no injuries. Everyone involved is safe and sound. VPD should be sending surveillance footage to you now, Mercury."

Nodding, Mercury checked his email. "Got it."

"Bring it to the conference room. We'll review it and begin our investigation," Ren ordered.

The team of hunters moved as one to their seats within the conference room, each one carried a look of dread at the concept of living witnesses. "I hate to say it," Blake muttered. "But I prefer corpses. They don't speak to the living and reveal secrets that should never be revealed."

"That being said," Ruby added. "I'm glad that there weren't any casualties. I'm not fond of..._messy_ crime scenes."

Mercury typed away and clicked once on his keyboard. Everyone's holographic display popped up with a silent piece of footage. A blonde man approached the counter, said a few words, and drew a gun on the teller. "Looks like a human robbery to me," Jaune said. As the woman reached for the alarm, the man split into four additional bodies, creating a total of five. Only the original carried the gun, however. "I take it back," the blonde hunter corrected.

"He can clone himself," Mercury said with a whisper. "He must have just awakened. I've never seen anything like it before."

"Glad I'm not the only one," Ruby added. "I've hunted a plethora of witches, but that's definitely a first."

Ironwood turned to the tech manager and said, "Mercury, start searching our database for any similar powers that have manifested in history. Cross reference them, and also see if you can get us a photo ID match of the suspect. I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of our one man army."

"You got it boss."

"Everyone, stay safe on this hunt. I want you all to..."

Ren's phone rang suddenly, catching everyone off guard. He looked at his pocket and turned to Ironwood.

"Who could be calling?" he asked.

"Only three people have my number sir; you, Mercury, and Militia."

Ironwood nodded. "Answer it. It must be important."

Nodding, Ren retrieved the phone and answered, "Hello?" He sat silently for a moment before his eyes went wide. "Are you sure? You're certain that she's back?" He nodded. "I see. I'll send you a body guard immediately. It's best to not take risks. Call me tonight. Bye." He hung up the phone and stood. "Militia's sister, Melanie, has come back to Vale."

Everyone was silent for a moment. "Isn't that a good thing?" Jaune asked.

"No. She's not human, Jaune. She's a witch."

Mercury's jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding me! How come we didn't know?"

"I only found out by chance. She left to avoid being hunted. It seems she's decided to come back now, and somehow Headquarters never ran into her."

Ren turned to Ironwood. "Sir, mind if I take charge for the day?"

Ironwood smiled. "There your team. Do what you need to do."

"Right. Yang, Jaune, you two are with me. We're going to investigate the bank robbery. Blake and Ruby, you two are going to stick with Militia. If Melanie shows up, hunt her."

"How will I know what she looks like?" Ruby asked.

"Look for Militia's double," was all he said. "Let's get to work!"

* * *

Weiss sat in her office, enjoying a cold glass of water. She had seen that Velvet was feeling much better now that she was living with Ruby. It brought her a genuine smile to her lips at the thought of the once distraught and damaged Velvet now feeling happy again.

There was something about that teenage girl that just made people happy. At least from Weiss's experience at least. The mere sight of her made Weiss feel like she herself was a teenager again. She was still young, but twenty-three was a sizable distance away from fifteen. As much as Weiss liked to currently entertain the notion of a relationship with Ruby, the thought of the criminal allegations alone made her shudder. She pushed the doubt from her mind, content with just being a social guide post for Ruby and allowing herself to aid the young hunter whenever needed.

Still, she wanted to do _something_ to thank Ruby specifically. The phones were a gift to Beacon, not to Ruby, so that didn't really count. The girl had saved her from an assassination attempt, helped rescue Velvet, and gave the poor girl a place to live for a while. All of these things Weiss would be eternally grateful for, but she wanted the chance to prove it.

A thought occurred to her. She'd never really dabbled in cooking before, but maybe...just this _once_ she'd try it out for Ruby. Smiling, she set her glass of water down and left her office. Seeking Velvet out, she informed the girl that she was taking the rest of the day off. _I've got some recipes to study_. She thought as she climbed into her car.

All the while, as she left, she never once noticed that the glass of water that she held moments earlier had a thin layer of ice on the side of the glass. It was room temperature when Velvet brought her the glass, and there wasn't an ounce of ice anywhere near it. Yet there it was, slowly melting off of the glass and pooling on the wooden desk, coming seemingly from nowhere.

* * *

_Song: Buikikaesu-Maximum the Hormone_

**Author's Note**

Hello again! Long time no _Witch Hunter_! How've you been? I've been doing good, for the most part. My work schedule has been stacked, so I've had to carefully pick and choose what stories to write for and what stories to let rest for a bit. I miss the days when I had enough free time to simply have three windows open and spend an hour or more per story a day.

No, really, that's what I did. I'm not joking when I say that I usually write several stories at once. Until my schedule got crazy as hell, I was writing this, _Eternity Rising, The Melancholy of Jaune Arc, The Downward Spiral_¸ my original work (_The Shifted Universe_), as well as several concept stories for both RWBY and my original work (I have an original Sci-Fi in the works now...it feels cool to be doing that.) Now every time I write, I am forced to choose a story and spend _days_ writing a single chapter to release to you guys. I hate it.

So, to make up for it, can I reveal to you some _concept _stories? No? Too bad! I'm telling you anyway!

Keep in mind, there is no promise that these will ever come out. But I do like the ideas behind them.

Namely, I have two stories in the works that relate to my _Shifting Remnant AU _(_The Longest Night _and_ Eternity Rising_)

_The Darkest Night-_ The _What If_ stories from _The Longest Night _story line. What if instead of Cerberus, a giant dragon like Grimm called Niddhog showed up that could control Nevermores? What if Weiss was the sole survivor of the entire Beacon Academy? What if no one had been prepare at all? I like these kinds of stories.

_The Man Behind the Curtain_\- a series of chapters or short stories following Ozpin. I can't go into detail on why I like this one yet because of spoilers for another story, but trust me when I say it should be good...if I ever get around to writing it.

Side Note: This was Episode 9 of Witch Hunter Ruby: the reason I use the term _Episodes _instead of Chapters is because I have a goal in mind, and this part of WHR, which I call _Awakening_ is only 13 episodes long. We're nearing the "end". However, I said this _part_. I plan to do a sort of _Season 2_ and hopefully stretch this bad boy out to 26 Episodes. Again, that's assuming I even can. I don't know. My plans don't usually pan out like I hope.

Fun Fact: My manager is kick ass. I spent an hour at work today doing _nothing _but talking to him about comic books. Me and my _**f**king manager**_ were both nerding out about super heroes and about how we hope Batman vs Superman isn't a shitstorm of bad movie. I had a good day at work. :)

Till next time, when we _Rush_!


	11. Episode 10: Rush

_Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the Coven sank in the dark. The rising sun. A free spirit forever bound by shackles not of earthly design._

* * *

Mercury tapped his foot nervously beneath his computer desk. He couldn't remember the last time the team had been split up to work on _two_ different hunts. Above all else, he was concerned about Militia. Her twin sister was a witch, and he didn't know what to expect. He rubbed his eyes, trying to force the worry from his body. "Ugh!" he yelled loudly. "What the hell is going on today?"

"I'd like to know that myself," Ironwood said from behind, startling Mercury.

"Boss! I...I didn't see you there."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He peered over Mercury's shoulder to watch the computer screen dance with names and faces as it sifted through the list of known witches and potential witches. "Have you got anything yet?"

Mercury shook his head. "I've got nothing yet. Nothing on the known list, the potential list, or the Vale PD list of criminals. It's slow going, though. Maybe we'll luck out and find something." He shrugged. "I hope so, at least."

"What about public records? Have you started searching through them?"

The silver haired tech guru laughed. "Please, Boss. Who do you take me for? I've got search algorithms looking through everything. From our witch's list to the IRS. There is no one that can hide from me."

"Unless they're not in the country legally," Ironwood chimed.

Mercury sighed. "Did you really have to make it depressing, Boss? I'm trying to be optimistic." The computer beeped, and the word [MATCH] appeared. "Hello there."

"Did you find him?"

"The match is only eighty-three percent, but I'll take those odds any day, honestly." He pulled up the file that was marked. "Huh...not from the witches list, or the VPD."

"What is it?"

"It's a file form a local high school." Mercury read the file and brought up a photo. "Sun Wukong. Says here he's fifteen...no, wait. That's wrong. He was fifteen at the time of this photo. He's apparently dropped out of high school and gone off on his own."

"Wouldn't we know if he'd taken a job somewhere? Found a place to live?"

"He lived in an orphanage until he ran off. From that point on no one knows where he went. Was presumed dead last year."

Ironwood stared curiously at the photograph. "You're sure that he's not in the list of potential witches?"

"I'll look him up specifically, but if my algorithm pulled from a _high school's_ database instead of ours, then he's most likely not in it." Mercury shrugged. "That's rare, of course, but not unheard of. We've hunted completely unknown witches before."

"Yeah," Ironwood said. "And I hate it when it happens."

* * *

~Witch Hunter Ruby~

Episode 10: Rush

"This is ridiculous," Blake said as she and Ruby crossed the road. Militia's restaurant was just on the other side of the street from Beacon. "They need me at the crime scene. My power gives me an investigative advatage!"

Ruby gently patted Blake on the shoulder. "This incident was public, Blake. Yang, Jaune, and Ren can handle interviewing the witnesses. You're one of our best shots, and I have my fire; we're better suited to protect Militia." She shrugged. "Plus, who knows. Militia might give us free food!"

Blake looked at Ruby incredulously. "Did you really just think with your stomach?"

Ruby stuck her tongue out playfully. "Militia's a good cook. Can't help it."

The black haired hunter simply shook her head, but couldn't resist the smile that crept upon her lips. "Well...I guess I am getting paid to do virtually nothing right now."

"See? That's the spirit! Though, we technically do that all the time. We get what? One? Maybe two witch sightings a month?"

"Are you complaining?"

"No! Goodness, no! HQ had me hunting a new witch every other day! I feel like I'm on a paid vacation half the time!" Ruby smiled widely. The smile faded quickly. "Though, the witches we do hunt...I can't help but feel as though Beacon is more..._intimate_."

"How so?" Blake asked.

"Well...back in Haven, we were told that the only way to hunt witches was to kill them. No needless chasing or subduing. Destroy them on sight. I've...I've killed quite a few witches, never once asking why. But here, where they have the chance to survive and be detained, it feels like I'm learning more about them. Why they use their powers. I've learned that witches aren't inherently evil, Blake. They do the bad things that they do out of desperation and confusion, not out of malicious intent. Like...like Pyrrha."

Blake's expression turned dark. "You still think about her, don't you?"

Ruby nodded. "I'm taking care of Velvet now. I saw how much they care for each other as friends. They're almost like sisters. And now, Pyrrha is locked away somewhere and Velvet will never see her again. It's...it's sad." They arrived at the door to the cafe, and the two just stood there for a moment. "And now, we're assigned to protect Militia from her own sister. Her twin."

Blake put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Don't think too much of it, Ruby. I know what you're feeling. I feel these emotions every time I let my flesh touch something. It's a painstaking process to even buy furniture for my home because I can't control how my power reacts. The best I can do is cover my skin with clothes and focus on my own emotions. If I'm not careful, I could go into shock just from picking up someone's dropped wallet." Reaching forward, Blake opened the door. "Shall we? Militia's waiting."

Ruby smiled. "After you."

* * *

Sun laughed to himself as he sat in the tunnels below the slums of Vale, pleased with his day's work. Before him, resting comfortably in a bag, was his haul; over forty thousand lien. A man could live like a king with this, if budgeted correctly. Luckily, being homeless didn't warrant him the privilege of desiring the latest Schnee technology, or an expensive suit. With this, he could find a place to live and eat, and should he run low he could simply use his power again to steal more.

He frowned at that thought. He'd need to leave Vale. His face...he smiled. His _faces_ would be plastered all over the TV and newspapers. He couldn't live here anymore. He knew he'd be wanted. But that's fine. He could escape with ease. He disappeared from existence once when he was evicted from his home over a year ago. Surely he could do it again. It wouldn't be a problem.

_ That will not do_, said a voice.

Sun bolted upright and looked around, raising his handgun to sweep around himself, searching for the source of the voice. "Show yourself!"

_That will not do,_ the voice repeated. Sun could barely make out that it was a woman's voice. Was it the same as this morning? He couldn't be sure. _Aye_, it said, as if it knew his thoughts. _Tis I._

"What do you want?" he asked.

_I want what all men like you want; freedom. Thou desires freedom. Thou shall have such liberty, if thou does what must be done._

He laughed. "I want food, liquor, and a place to sleep. That's all I've ever wanted. I'm already free. Always have been."

_Not anymore, you're not_¸ the voice taunted. _Now you will be hunted. No matter where you go, they will hunt thee. Some may capture, and some may kill. It all depends on where you are in the world. Vale is where thou needs to be._

"The cops may hunt me, but they'll never find me. I'll hide down here for a while, and then make my escape when they least expect it."

_Tell that to the green haired girl who was hunted in these very tunnels._ The voice said this with such certainty and intensity that Sun visibly flinched. _Will thou do what needs to be done?_

Sun spat onto the concrete floor in mockery. "Screw you! I'm on my own. I don't need to do anything for you." The fluorescent lights throughout the tunnel began to flicker and fade as he finished his sentence.

_I was afraid you'd say that_.

The blonde looked around, beginning to panic as the lights got darker and darker. From the corner of his eye he thought he saw movement. He turned to follow it and fired his gun in the hopes that he'd hit whoever was messing with him. He forgot the take into account that he was sitting inside a giant, hollow, concrete tube; the sound of the gunfire was enhanced as it echoed off of the walls, assaulting his sense of hearing from all angles. He yelled in pain at the auditory overload, dropping his gun as he went to cover his ears, hoping to block out the ringing that dominated them. "Where are you!?" he yelled, but he couldn't hear himself.

_All around you_, the voice replied, and his eyes went wide. His ears were still ringing; he shouldn't have been able to hear the voice. That's when he realized that it was inside of his head. _That's right, boy_, it said mockingly. _I will not leave until you do what is necessary._ From the shadows, Sun saw even more movement, and the panic set in even more. He felt scare and helpless. He looked down to find his gun and saw it scraping across the concrete into the darkness, with nothing touching it. From behind him, a pitch black hand reached from the shadows and grabbed his head.

The lights went out.

* * *

Ren strolled into the Bank of Vale, looking very much out of place in his black suit and black trench coat amidst the blues of the Vale Police Department. "Jaune, be sure to check all around the building. See if you can ascertain which direction he ran. Yang, start interviewing witnesses. Piece together the story," he said over the radio.

_"Sure thing,"_ came both of his colleagues in his earpiece.

The black haired man nodded and started glancing around the building. No broken windows, no damaged architecture; it seems there was no struggle outside of the camera footage they were given. That was good; it meant that there were, in fact, no injuries. He closed his eyes and stood still and silent. It had been quite some time since he'd been on a crime scene without Blake, so he may have been out of practice, but he was confident he could still utilize his unorthodox skill.

With practiced precision, Ren blotted out all outside noise. With no sight or sound, he limited his attention to only one of his senses. Sniffing the air lightly, he searched for the witch's scent. Very few people knew this, but when a witch uses their power, they leave behind a very distinct odor. It's so subtle, and easily lost amidst the chaotic smells of the world and its many people that it's nearly undetectable. When Ren first became a hunter, he trained himself to locate and recognize that smell; the smell of power.

Being greatly out of practice, as he hasn't had to use this skill since they brought Blake on board at Beacon, it took him a few minutes longer than usual to find and track the smell. He followed it from the door to the teller's station, stopping just before the wooden divide that separates the public from the money beyond. Slowly he opened his eyes and recognized the station as the one from the security footage. He removed his right hand from its restful place in his coat pocket and began to gently wash the tips over the wood, trying to grasp just how powerful this witch may really be.

From behind, he heard the sound of a man clearing his throat. Ren turned and came face to face with a brown suited police detective. "Can I help you, sir?" he asked Ren. His hair was closely cropped, and he had a full beard. His eyes were covered by sunglasses.

Ren's eyes narrowed. He wasn't fond of interacting with the police. To him, they all seemed to think that they were better than the Beacon hunters, even though many of them had no idea that witches existed. "No, thank you. I'm fine."

"Are you now?" the detective asked with a hint of condescension. "You're tampering with a crime scene, you know. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Detective. I'm here to solve this case for you."

The detective looked rather irritated at the concept of someone from outside of the police solving his case. "Who in the hell do you think you are?"

Ren pulled out his identification and showed it to the detective. "Lie Ren. I'm from Beacon."

The detective deflated immediately. He was pissed, but knew there was nothing he could do. He turned and started yelling at one of the police officers on hand. "Why the hell did no one tell me that this case was given to Beacon? You shortened my day off just to tell me that I'm not needed?"

Ren, in a rare moment, smiled. _I hear that_, came Mercury's voice from his earpiece. _Why do you like pissing off the police so much?_

"They make it so easy," he answered. "What do you have?"

_"So far all I have is a name. Sun Wukong. Went to one of the district high schools in vale, and was a resident at the Central Vale Orphanage until he ran away at the age of fifteen. A search was never official made, so his file was never added to the VPD's database. He was missing for three years before the owner of the orphanage had him labeled as dead last year. That'd make him about nineteen now."_

"Any ideas on where to find him?"

_"He's been off the grid for four years. There're only a handful of ways to live in the city without a home. If I had to guess, he's probably been hiding out in the slums, or maybe the metro tunnels. If we're lucky, one of the run down parks."_

Ren sighed, remembering that those slums were where they hunted Emerald. "Wonderful." Suddenly, from behind, Ren heard the sounds of the police scrambling and yelling. "What the hell?" Running outside, he couldn't believe what he saw.

* * *

Jaune stood with his Aura pistol drawn. "There's no need to make this any harder, kid," he said to Sun, who stood before him. "Just surrender."

Sun's shirt was hanging loosely, not fully on his body. His head was hung low, and in his hand was the handgun he used in his robbery. He lifted his head and met Jaune's gaze. The hunter was shocked to see the young witch's eyes. They were glazed over and bloodshot. On his face was a twisted smile. "Free," he said in a low voice. "Let us be free."

"Put the gun down," Jaune said in a warning tone. "You're surrounded. There's nowhere to go."

"Let us be free," he repeated. "Let us be free."

_"Jaune!"_ Ren yelled over the radio. _"What is he doing?"_

"I don't know. He...he doesn't look well," the hunter replied.

"Free. We want to be free. Let us be free," Sun said once again.

"He keeps saying that he wants to be free. I don't get it."

_"Take him out before he hurts someone,"_ Ren ordered.

"Right." Jaune readied his aim. "I'm sorry, man. But this is for your own good." Lightly, he squeezed the trigger. As the glass tipped Aura bullet rocketed towards him, Sun glowed a golden color for a split second, and the bullet barely missed; it went between the now two separate Suns. "Shit!"

"Open fire!" ordered the detective that Ren argued with earlier.

"Wait! No!" Jaune yelled, but it was too late. The police force all opened fire at once. Lead bullets with gun powder backing them move faster than the gas propelled Aura bullets that the hunters use. The witch never stood a chance.

His second body took several bullets before disintegrating into golden light, fading slowly into nothingness. The real Sun Wukong took a bullet to the left shoulder, the right forearm, the right thigh, the stomach, and several in the chest. "Hold your fire!" Jaune yelled. "Hold your fire, damn it!"

At his order, the shooting eventually came to a stop. Jaune turned, expecting to see Sun lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. He, Ren, Yang who was behind the police line, and the police themselves were all speechless with open mouths at the sight of Sun standing on his own two feet. He looked down at his wounds before looking back up. With a slight smile, he fell backwards.

Jaune made haste, and ran to the witch's side to see if he was savable. The words that Ironwood said when he was first hired echoed in his mind. _We do not kill witches. They are people just as we are. They deserve to live._ Jaune slid on his knees, not giving the effort to stop properly, and knelt by Sun's side. "Don't you die on me, damn it!" He began to put pressure on what he assumed were the worst of the injuries. "Ren! Call the factory guys! We need a medic! Yang! Get over and help me!"

_"Right!" _Ren replied.

Yang rushed to his side and began to put pressure on the witch's wounds as well, trying to save his life. "Son of a bitch," Yang muttered. "Stupid cops!"

"We can complain later, right now let's just try to keep him alive."

"What's his name?"

"Ah, I think Mercury said his name was Sun," Jaune answered. He looked into Sun's glazed eyes. "Sun, can you hear me? Look at me, man. You're gonna make it! Do you hear me? You're going to make it!"

Sun followed Jaune's voice and stared into the hunter's piercing blue eyes. "Free," he said in a low voice. "Let us be free."

"What?" Jaune asked.

The world became quiet to the blonde hunter. Looking over, he saw Yang's horrified face. He felt a strange, pained sensation in his abdomen and looked down to investigate. Blood was oozing from his white dress shirt, and in Sun's hand was the handgun; he had fired the gun into Jaune's stomach.

He fell backward as his vision began to fade. "Wh-what?" he asked again. At least he thought he asked it again, as his hearing was still gone. Yang came into his field of vision, clearly having ignored Sun's condition to save her colleague instead. He could see her mouth moving but could hear no words.

_Twas a failure,_ he heard a female voice that didn't belong to anyone he knew. _Thou may yet be of use to me. We shall see._

His vision faded, and for what felt like an eternity, Jaune's world became nothing. No light, no sound, no smells.

Nothing.

* * *

_Song: Rush - Soundwitch_

**Author's Notes**

It lives! Now that the core of my _Shifting Remnant AU_ is done (there are two more After Stories that need to be written, but that's it), I can focus on Witch Hunter Ruby! I've been away from it for four months. FOUR MONTHS! A lot has changed in that four months of my life. I quit my job, got my driver's license, cut off my dad, welcomed him back into my life, got a girlfriend, lost a girlfriend, and I'm now waiting to see if I can start a new job.

...

Actually, all but the quitting of my Job happened for the most part in the last month. I quit my job about two months ago. Been quite hectic.

Still! Here we are! Chapter ten! I know I said I would be splitting this story up into two 13 chapter segments that would make up a season each, but I don't think I can squeeze all that I want to into the next three chapters. Such is the life of a writer. Hell, this chapter is longer than I thought it'd be!

So, what are your thoughts? I know I've got a lot of stories being told at once here, but that shouldn't be too much to keep up with. We've got Militia's sister coming back (may see her soon), we've got Weiss doing her thing (she wasn't in this chapter), and now Jaune's been shot!

Will he die? Who knows! You guys know how I stand on character death...I have a lovely relationship with character death.

But, we'll find out soon enough! Don't you worry your pretty little heads about it! :D

Let me know what you guys thought about this chapter, or the story as a whole. Please leave a review or send a PM.

Fun Fact: Being unemployed sucks. Fingers crossed I get this job.

Till next time!


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